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* FTSE 100 up 1%, FTSE 250 up 1.1%
* Miners, financials boost blue-chip index
* Burberry gains after LVMH-Tiffany deal
* IAG up on preliminary deal with pilots union
* Frankie & Benny's owner, Hochschild lag mid-caps
(Adds news items, updates to closing prices)
By Shashwat Awasthi and Yadarisa Shabong
Nov 25 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 rose on Monday on
renewed hopes an initial Sino-U.S. trade deal may be clinched
this year while further signs the Conservatives are set to win
an election next month drove mid-caps to their highest since
September 2018.
The main index climbed 1%, boosted by miners
and Asia-focused financial stocks HSBC and
Prudential after the U.S. national security adviser said
a preliminary trade deal was possible this year.
The index, which jumped more than 1% in the previous
session, was also supported by a 3% gain in Burberry
after rival LVMH agreed to buy U.S. jeweller Tiffany
for $16.2 billion.
The more domestically-focussed FTSE 250 rose 1.1%,
in tandem with sterling after opinion polls showed the
Conservatives were still favourites to win the Dec. 12 election,
raising the likelihood of Brexit happening.
The mid-cap index has gained 2.5% since Oct. 29, when
parliament approved Prime Minister Boris Johnson's call for an
election, and hit its highest since Sept. 4, 2018.
Blue-chip housebuilders such as Berkeley, Barratt
and Persimmon climbed about 1.5% each while
UK-exposed banks such as Lloyds, Barclays and
RBS advanced nearly 2%.
JP Morgan's basket of London-listed firms that
make their cash at home rallied 1.4% to its highest since April.
However, shares of Restaurant Group slumped nearly
9% after the owner of Frankie & Benny's reported slowing
like-for-like sales growth at its Wagamama business in Britain.
Hochschild Mining, which fell 9% on Friday after a
lacklustre production outlook for 2020, also underperformed,
losing another 7% and hitting its lowest in almost six
months.
Despite a firmer pound, the exporter-heavy FTSE posted gains
as Sino-U.S. trade sentiment was boosted by China's assurance of
stronger protections for intellectual property, which analysts
have identified as a key factor in trade talks.
"The move suggests that key concessions are being made in
order to increase the prospects of a partial U.S.-China deal,
which is giving investors another opportunity to capitalise on
risk-on trading activity," FXTM analyst Han Tan said.
IAG rose 2% after British Airways and its pilots
union BALPA reached a preliminary agreement to end the pay
dispute that resulted in the first walkout by pilots in the
airline's history.
(Reporting by Yadarisa Shabong in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak
Dasgupta and David Clarke)
