LONDON MARKET OPEN: AstraZeneca And BHP Top-And-Tail FTSE 100

(Alliance News) - Stock prices in London opened higher on Tuesday continuing positive momentum from Monday, amid optimism over US-China trade negotiations after the US granted telecom equipment and consumer electronics firm Huawei a 90-day reprieve.On the UK corporate front, AstraZeneca shares rose after the drugmaker's diabetes drug Farxiga met the main goal of a late-stage study, while BHP sank after annual results missed expectations. The FTSE 100 was up 13.15 points, or 0.2%, at 7,202.80. The FTSE 250 was up 31.97 points, or 0.2%, at 19,129.91. The AIM All-Share was up 2.02 points, or 0.2%, at 866.43.The Cboe UK 100 index was flat at 12,196.30. The Cboe UK 250 was flat at 16,972.89, while the Cboe UK Small Companies was flat at 10,918.12.In European equities, the CAC 40 index in Paris was flat and the DAX 30 in Frankfurt up 0.1%. "The financial markets continue their neat recovery, following renewed optimism around the progress of US-China trade negotiations. There is also hope that stimulus from the world's largest governments will spur economic growth," said analysts at FXPro. In the FTSE 100, AstraZeneca was the best performer, up 1.6% after the Anglo-Swedish drugmaker reported positive results from the third phase of the DAPA-HF trial.Astra said the study showed Farxiga met the primary composite endpoint with a reduction of cardiovascular death or the worsening of heart failure, compared to a placebo.Persimmon was up 1.4% despite reporting a slight drop in interim earnings amid fewer home sales. In the six months to June, the FTSE 100 housebuilder sold 7,584 new homes, down 6.0% on the previous year, with revenue declining 4.9% to GBP1.75 billion and new home revenue down 5.2% to GBP1.65 billion. Persimmon's pretax profit declined 1.4% on the previous year to GBP509.3 million with the underlying new house operating profit margin improving to 31.0% from 29.7% year-on-year. However, it has fallen from 31.8% from the second half of 2018. Looking ahead, Persimmon's forward sales are "strong" at GBP2.05 billion, and the company said it is well-positioned for a good second half. However, it warned on rising cost pressures.Admiral was up 1.0% after UBS raised the motor insurer to Neutral from Sell. At the other end of the large-cap index, BHP Group was the worst performer, down 2.5%. The Anglo-Australian miner reported an improvement in performance in its most recently ended financial year, but results were mostly below what the market had expected. For the 12 months to June, the mining giant's pretax profit rose 2.0% to USD15.05 billion the prior year, while underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation were broadly flat year-on-year at USD23.16 billion compared to USD23.18 billion. The underlying Ebitda figure fell short of the USD23.71 billion expected by analysts. BHP's annual revenue from continuing operations was USD44.29 billion, up 2.7% from a year earlier, but again below consensus of USD44.74 billion.Rentokil Initial was down 1.0%, after RBC Capital cut the pest control company to Sector Perform from Outperform. In the FTSE 250, John Wood was up 1.4%. The oilfield services firm said it sold its nuclear business is to the US's Jacobs Engineering Group for USD305 million. In addition, the company said it swung to a half-year profit despite a fall in revenue.The Japanese Nikkei 225 index closed up 0.6%. In China, the Shanghai Composite closed down 0.1%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong is down 0.1%.The pound was quoted at USD1.2097 early Tuesday, lower than USD1.2139 at the London equities close Monday.Sterling was down after UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson wrote to EU Council President Donald Tusk on Monday evening outlining his opposition to what he called the "anti-democratic" Northern Ireland backstop.In the letter, Johnson said while he wants the UK to leave the EU with a deal, he could not support any withdrawal agreement that "locks the UK, potentially indefinitely, into an international treaty which will bind us into a customs union and which applies large areas of single market legislation in Northern Ireland"."Sterling is under pressure as Boris Johnson's letter to Donald Tusk indicated he's playing this for real. Johnson's letter to Donald Tusk was pretty clear on what needs to happen to avoid no-deal. The backstop is unviable. If the EU doesn't budge...look to the G7 this weekend." said Markets.com analyst Neil Wilson. The economic events calendar on Tuesday has eurozone construction output at 1000 BST.