Europe close: Stocks finish higher despite US-China trade tensions

(Sharecast News) - Stocks in Europe finished higher despite Beijing's decision to halt purchases of some US agricultural imports pending the details of Washington's response to its decision to move ahead with a security bill for Hong Kong that observers say are in breach of its treaty obligations.
On Friday, the White House responded saying that it would review the privileges enjoyed by HK up until then and that it might push for sanctions against Chinese officials "directly or indirectly involved" in eroding the City's freedoms.

However, the US President did not put the recent US-China trade deal on the table and, at least in Europe, markets appeared to shrug off the latest news out of China.

By the end of trading, the benchmark Stoxx 600 had added 1.1% to 354.2, alongside a 1.79% jump for the FTSE Mibtel to 18,523.71, while the Cac-40 added 1.43% to 4,762.78.

"Trump's decision to maintain the US-China trade deal has helped boost risk assets today, with the travel sector benefiting in particular," said IG's Chris Beauchamp in a note sent to clients ahead of the latest news on China's agricultural purchases.

Spanish telecommunications tower owner MasMovil was the standout gainer after US private equity outfits Cinven and Providence agreed on a €2.96bn takeover.

There was little fresh economic data for investors to sink their teeth into at the start of the week.

That said, the main report of the session was IHS Markit's Purchasing Managers' Index for May, which was confirmed at 39.4 for May, versus a preliminary reading of 39.5 and an April print of 33.4.