FTSE 100 Moderately Higher; Shell Rises Sharply After Announcing Share Buyback

(RTTNews) - UK stocks are up in positive territory on Friday, in line with other major markets in Europe, amid optimism over easing U.S.-China trade relations. Investors are also reacting to a slew of earnings announcements.

The benchmark FTSE 100, moving in a tight range, was up 66.65 points or 0.79% at 8,563.45 a little while ago.

Haleon is up 3.7% and Melrose Industries is gaining 3.3%. Rentokil Initial, Compass Group, Babcock International, Anglo American Plc and Persimmon are up 2 to 2.7%.

Shell is up 2.7%. The oil and gas major announced a share buyback programme of $3.5 billion, despite reporting weak first-quarter results. Looking ahead, for the second quarter, the company projects Integrated Gas production to be approximately 890 - 950 thousand boe/d. LNG liquefaction volumes are expected to be approximately 6.3 - 6.9 million tonnes. Upstream production is expected to be approximately 1,560 - 1,760 thousand boe/d.

BAE Systems, IAG, Entain, Intertek Group, Spirax Group, Mondi, Smiths Group, Glencore, Rio Tinto, Halma and Prudential are also up with strong gains.

NatWest Group Plc is up 0.8%. The banking and insurance holding company reported a sequential rise in its first-quarter earnings, helped by improved total income and a decline in operating expenses. The earnings were also underpinned by continued growth across the company's businesses.

Standard Chartered Plc reported that its profit before taxation was $1.10 billion in the first-quarter, up from last year's $1.91 billion. Earnings per share grew to 56.6 US cents from prior year's 46.5 US cents. The stock is up by about 0.3%.

Pearson is down sharply despite underlying group sales rose 1% in the first quarter.

Kingfisher, Whitbread, Marks & Spencer, JD Sports Fashion, Beazley, SSE, Sainsbury (J) and Lloyds Banking Group are down 1 to 2%.