Source: Sharecast
At 0825 BST, the FTSE 100 was up 0.3% at 8,784.12.
Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: "Trade talk is heating up again as President Trump’s 90-day pause on reciprocal tariffs nears its end. Markets are starting to see that Trump’s bark is worse than his bite, with news that the White House might dial back its tariff plans to avoid reigniting a global trade war the latest example of a softer touch.
"European markets have had a choppy open this morning, but the FTSE 100 managed to edge out some gains, as investors try and gauge what’s to come."
Figures released by Nationwide earlier showed that house prices unexpectedly fell 0.8% on the month in June, following 0.4% growth in May. Analysts were expecting a 0.2% jump.
On the year, house price growth slowed to 2.1% last month from 3.5% in May.
The average price of a home stood at £271,619 in June, versus £273,427 a month earlier.
Nationwide chief economist Robert Gardner said: "The softening in price growth may reflect weaker demand following the increase in stamp duty at the start of April. Nevertheless, we still expect activity to pick up as the summer progresses, despite ongoing economic uncertainties in the global economy, since underlying conditions for potential homebuyers in the UK remain supportive.
"The unemployment rate remains low, earnings are rising at a healthy pace in real terms (i.e. after accounting for inflation), household balance sheets are strong and borrowing costs are likely to moderate a little if Bank Rate is lowered further in the coming quarters as we and most other analysts expect."
The data also showed that the north-south divide in house price performance narrowed in the three months to June. Average prices in Northern England were up 3.1% year-on-year, while prices in Southern England were up 2.2%.
Northern Ireland remained the top-performing area, with annual house price growth of 9.7%.
Investors were also digesting the latest British Retail Consortium-NIQ Shop Price Index, which showed that prices returned to inflation in June on the back of a big jump in food prices, fuelled by high wholesale prices and rising wage bills.
Prices at UK tills were up 0.4% compared with last June, following a 0.1% year-on-year decline in May.
The annual rate of food inflation surged to 3.7% from 2.8%, while non-food deflation eased to -1.2% from -1.5%.
This was the first time in nearly a year that headline shop prices recorded year-on-year growth, according to BRC chief executive Helen Dickinson, who linked the return to inflation to the increased costs for retailers listed in the Autumn Budget, which took effect in April.
In equity markets, supermarket chain Sainsbury’s rallied as it backed its full-year profit guidance and reported a sharp jump in first-quarter like-for-like sales as consumers tucked into its new range of ‘Taste the Difference’ products including Spanish Jamón Croquetas.
National Grid and SSE advanced after Ofgem said it has given the provisional green light to an initial £24bn investment programme to enhance energy security "while enabling the transmission of more clean energy from renewable sources".
An initial £8.9bn in funding has been approved for the electricity transmission sector to upgrade grid, with National Grid set to receive £4.2bn and £3.1bn for SSE.
On the downside, Standard Chartered slumped amid news the bank is facing a $2.7bn lawsuit as liquidators allege it helped to enable the laundering of billions of dollars misappropriated from Malaysian sovereign wealth fund 1MDB.
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 8,784.12 0.26%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 21,662.74 0.17%
techMARK (TASX) 5,090.29 0.30%
FTSE 100 - Risers
Fresnillo (FRES) 1,466.00p 1.81%
Compass Group (CPG) 2,509.00p 1.70%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,837.00p 1.52%
Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 294.20p 1.52%
National Grid (NG.) 1,077.50p 1.51%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 359.20p 1.35%
Vodafone Group (VOD) 78.78p 1.29%
SSE (SSE) 1,851.50p 1.12%
Glencore (GLEN) 286.75p 1.11%
Tesco (TSCO) 405.70p 1.10%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,188.00p -1.57%
Barratt Redrow (BTRW) 450.50p -1.18%
Kingfisher (KGF) 287.80p -1.03%
Barclays (BARC) 334.30p -0.89%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 118.00p -0.63%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 4,640.00p -0.62%
The Sage Group (SGE) 1,243.50p -0.56%
NATWEST GROUP (NWG) 508.60p -0.55%
CRH (CDI) (CRH) 6,680.00p -0.48%
Persimmon (PSN) 1,290.00p -0.46%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Petershill Partners (PHLL) 233.50p 4.94%
Moonpig Group (MOON) 235.50p 4.67%
Pagegroup (PAGE) 275.40p 3.30%
Target Healthcare Reit Ltd (THRL) 107.00p 2.69%
Ashmore Group (ASHM) 159.90p 2.17%
Pantheon Infrastructure (PINT) 102.50p 1.99%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 260.60p 1.96%
Genus (GNS) 2,085.00p 1.96%
PayPoint (PAY) 863.00p 1.89%
Harworth Group (HWG) 183.00p 1.67%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Trainline (TRN) 266.80p -4.24%
Dr. Martens (DOCS) 73.15p -2.53%
Dunelm Group (DNLM) 1,161.00p -2.03%
Hilton Food Group (HFG) 851.00p -1.73%
Herald Investment Trust (HRI) 2,280.00p -1.51%
Coats Group (COA) 78.30p -1.51%
Wizz Air Holdings (WIZZ) 1,074.00p -1.47%
WH Smith (SMWH) 1,075.00p -1.38%
Bloomsbury Publishing (BMY) 506.00p -1.17%
Crest Nicholson Holdings (CRST) 184.60p -1.12%