LONDON MARKET OPEN: Stocks Surge On Hopes Of Economic Stimulus

(Alliance News) - Stock prices in London opened higher on Monday, amid hopes of economic stimulus and the prospect of renewed trade talks between the US and China. Amid fears of a global recession, investors were hopeful that major economic countries will unveil stimulus to limit any impact. Germany's Der Spiegel said Angela Merkel's government was ready to boost public spending, while China announced an interest rate reform that it said would lower borrowing costs for companies.The FTSE 100 was up 62.01 points, or 0.9%, at 7,179.16. The FTSE 250 was up 108.06 points, or 0.6%, at 18,929.91. The AIM All-Share was up 2.79 points, or 0.3%, at 862.77.The Cboe UK 100 index was up 0.7% at 12,151.30. The Cboe UK 250 was up 0.2% at 16,755.89, while the Cboe UK Small Companies was flat at 10,838.12.In European equities, the CAC 40 in Paris was up 0.9% and the DAX 30 in Frankfurt up 1.2%. The Japanese Nikkei 225 index closed up 0.7%. In China, the Shanghai Composite closed up 2.1%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong is up 2.3%.Analysts at FXPro said: "Markets are growing at the start of trading on Monday, supported by policy easing and hopes for stimulus. The People's Bank of China announced an interest rate reform, which should ease credit conditions for companies. Prior to that, it was reported on Friday that the coalition government of Germany is preparing to soften its budget rule to help the economy avoid a recession. GDP, as was reported last week, has fallen in the second quarter, with business sentiment declining to multi-year lows in August. This promises to lead to a further downturn in the economy in the third quarter."Both Germany and China are heavily dependent on world trade, so they are the first to be pressured by growing trade conflicts. The governments of these countries are almost simultaneously considering measures to sustain domestic demand, with little opportunity to influence external demand."In addition, investors reacted positively to comments from US President Donald Trump's top economic adviser hailing "positive" trade talks with top Chinese negotiators.Larry Kudlow, the chief economic adviser of the Trump administration, said that if talks between deputies from Beijing and Washington went well and "we can have a substantive renewal of negotiations" then "we are planning to have China come to the USA and meet with our principals to continue the negotiations".He added that high-level phone talks last week were "a lot more positive than has been reported".In the FTSE 100, miners were among the best performers, with Antofagasta up 2.6%, Glencore, up 2.1%, Anglo American, up 1.7% and BHP, up 1.6%. At the other end of the large cap index, Fresnillo was the worst performer, down 1.1% at 655.80 pence after Jefferies cut its price target on the gold miner to 850p from 1,000p. The pound was quoted at USD1.2130 Monday, compared to USD1.2147 at the London equities close Friday. The price of new properties on the market declined to a lesser extent than usual in August, the Rightmove Monthly Housing Price index showed Monday, pushing the annual rate to a nearly one-year high.The price of newly marketed property fell by an average of 1.0% in August, Rightmove showed, as new-to-the-market sellers at this time of year tend to have a more pressing need to sell, and price more cheaply to attract holiday-distracted buyers.Still to come in the economic events calendar on Monday, is eurozone inflation data at 1000 BST.