FTSE 100 edges higher as mining and travel stocks gain

London’s FTSE 100 edged higher on Tuesday with the help of mining, travel and leisure stocks, as investors shrugged off worries of delays in lifting of the UK’s social distancing rules.

The blue-chip FTSE 100 index was up 0.3 per cent, while the domestically focused mid-cap FTSE 250 index dipped 0.1 per cent, dragged by weakness in technology and industrial stocks.

Intermediate Capital Group and British American Tobacco posted positive earnings, while Flutter Entertainment , Compass Group, Just Eat Takeaway.com and InterContinental Hotels Group were among the top gainers.

Across the pond, major Wall Street indexes wavered around the flatline, but managed to close mostly positive, lifted by gains in big tech companies. The S&P 500 was nearly unchanged and rose less than 0.1 percent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.1 percent, and the tech heavy Nasdaq Composite rose 0.3 percent, boosted by surges in Amazon and Apple.

The US Senate voted 68-32 to approve a sweeping package of legislation intended to boost the country’s ability to compete with Chinese technology.

Shares in the Asia-Pacific region were mixed in Wednesday morning trade followed by a flat closing in the US and ahead of Chinese inflation data expected later in the day. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 traded 0.3 per cent down. South Korea’s Kospi also declined 0.3 per cent. The Hang Seng index hovered around flatline, while Shanghai Composite traded slightly higher.

Indian indices opened with marginal gains on Wednesday as energy stocks advanced with crude oil prices at a two-year high, but banking and financials declined.

Sensex opened at 52,401, up 126 points, or 0.2 per cent, while the Nifty opened at 15,766, up 26 points, or 0.16 per cent on Wednesday.