FTSE 100 watch: Footsie steady ahead of Brexit developments and US-China talks

The UK benchmark index has climbed higher in today’s session, holding steady ahead of trade talks between the US and China later in the week, and with Prime Minister Theresa May due to update parliament on a Brexit deal. In individual movers, Barratt Developments (LON:BDEV) is outperforming the FTSE 100 despite a rating downgrade at Liberum.

Footsie steady on Monday

As of 12:42 GMT, Britain’s blue-chip index had added 48.92 points to stand 0.69 percent higher at 7,120.10. Sentiment has been upbeat today, with the US dollar rising ahead of the latest round of trade talks between Washington and Beijing. Reuters meanwhile reports that at home, Prime Minister Theresa May is due to update parliament on her progress toward a European Union divorce deal.

“It does rather seem like she is trying to bounce parliament into a last minute choice between her deal or no deal at all,” Markets.com analyst Neil Wilson said, as quoted by Reuters. “As the clock counts down the risk is that the delaying tactics backfire and the UK leaves without a deal.”

Individual FTSE 100 movers

Barratt’s share price has climbed 1.53 percent to 571.60p even as Liberum trimmed its stance on the shares from ‘buy’ to ‘hold’. The analysts, however, hiked their price target on the shares from 500p to 540p.

“Trading is proving resilient for listed builders in January, although we detect more caution among housebuilders more generally. The timing and transition arrangements for Brexit remain the key drivers of the short term outlook,” the broker said, as quoted by Proactive Investors.

The FTSE 100 was 0.79 percent up at 7,127.26 points as of 12:59 GMT on Monday, 11 February 2019.