BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - The FTSE 100 index of the U.K. market is modestly higher on Tuesday with investors picking up stocks ahead of quarterly earnings announcements from big name companies, due from this week. Slightly easing U.S.-China trade tensions appear to be aiding sentiment a bit.
The FTSE 100 was up 27.63 points or 0.29% at 9,431.20 nearly half an hour past noon.
Segro is gaining more than 3%. The warehousing group has delivered a strong third quarter, supported by improving occupier sentiment and increased pre-letting activity.
Melrose Industries is up nearly 2.5%. HSBC Holdings is up nearly 2% as the lender appointed former NatWest executive David Lindberg as CEO of its U.K. business.
Relx, Auto Trader Group, Pearson and Barclays Group are up 1.3 to 2%. Experian is advancing by nearly 1%.
Mining stocks are weak. Fresnillo is down by about 6%, Endeavour Mining is down 4.3%, Antofagasta is declining by 1.7% and Anglo American is down 1.1%. Glecore is down 0.6%, while Rio Tinto is gaining about 0.5%.
Bunzl, Entain, Metlen Energy & Metals, Coca-Cola HBC, Kingfisher and Easyjet are down 1 to 2%.
In economic news, the UK budget deficit widened in September on higher expenditure, data from the Office for National Statistics showed.
Public sector net borrowing increased to GBP 20.2 billion from GBP 18.6 billion in the previous year. This was the highest September borrowing since 2020.
Data showed that current receipts increased 8.6% from the previous year to GBP 86.2 billion, and current expenditure rose 9.8% to GBP 90.6 billion.
In the financial year to September, borrowing rose by GBP 11.5 billion from the last year to GBP 99.8 billion.
The deficit hit the second-highest April to September level since records began in 1993. Moreover, this was above the official forecast of GBP 92.6 billion.
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