LONDON MARKETS: U.K. Stocks Rise For 2nd Straight Day Ahead Of Key Inflation Data

By Sara Sjolin, MarketWatch

North Korea fears continue to recede, spurring investors to take on more risk

London-listed stocks rose for a second straight session on Tuesday, as fears of a nuclear war between the U.S. and North Korea continued to recede and as investors looked ahead to a closely watched U.K. inflation report.

The FTSE 100 index climbed 0.2% to 7,369.16, adding to a 0.6% advance from Monday. The positive sentiment on Monday came as U.S. officials over the weekend played down the threat of a military conflict with North Korea, saying they instead were seeking diplomatic solutions (http://nation.foxnews.com/2017/08/13/mattis-and-tillerson-were-holding-pyongyang-account).

Further easing the tensions, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un decided not to launch a threatened missile attack on U.S. territory Guam (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/north-korea-steps-back-from-plan-to-launch-missiles-at-guam-2017-08-14), Pyongyang's state media reported on Tuesday. The leader, however, warned that he could change his mind "if the Yankees persist in their extremely dangerous reckless actions."

Inflation: Investors in London were also focused on U.K. inflation data for July, due at 9:30 a.m. local time, or 4:30 a.m. Eastern Time.

Consensus estimates point to a reading of 2.7%, a slight uptick from the 2.6% printed in June.

"The development of inflation will be scrutinized because it will be a key factor in the Bank of England's decision of whether or not to hike rates before 2018," analysts at Danske Bank said in a note.

The pound traded at $1.2956 ahead of the data, compared with $1.2964 late Monday in New York.

Stock movers: Shares of Next PLC (NXT.LN) fell 2.8% after Berenberg cut its rating on the high-street retailer to sell from hold.

Shares of Hargreaves Lansdown PLC (HL.LN) rose 0.6% after the financial services company reported a 20% jump in full-year profit (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/hargreaves-lansdown-full-year-profit-jumps-20-2017-08-15).

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 15, 2017 03:16 ET (07:16 GMT)

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