London stocks rose in early trade on Friday, taking their cue from an upbeat session on Wall Street as investors continued to keep a close eye on Brexit developments.

At 0825 GMT, the FTSE 100 was up 0.6% to 7,083.26, while the pound was 0.4% higher against the dollar at 1.2825 and 0.1% firmer versus the euro at 1.1286, having suffered its worst day on Thursday since the October 2016 'flash crash' in the wake of a number of key cabinet resignations.

Brexit was firmly in focus again amid reports that Environment Secretary and staunch Leaver Michael Gove had turned down the role of Brexit Secretary and is considering quitting cabinet over the Brexit deal.

Meanwhile, political uncertainty was set to continue after hardline Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg submitted a letter of no-confidence in Theresa May as leader of the Tory Party, amid rumours that the number of letters submitted by Tory MPs to the 1922 Committee was nearing the 48 needed to trigger a vote of no confidence.

"If the 48 letter threshold is reached for a vote to be called then the matter will then probably go to a vote in the next few days, which would require Mrs May’s opponents to get 159 MPs to vote against her in order to force her to step down," said CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson.

"Even if the Prime Minister were to win the vote it would need to be by a very wide margin for her not to be politically damaged in some way. In any case any new leader will face the very same problems that the current incumbent is now facing, which means that for all the sound and fury that is currently buffeting currency markets the ultimate calculus remains the same in that there is no majority in the House of Commons for a 'no deal' Brexit which means that MPs will try and coalesce around some form of alternative, assuming a general election can be avoided."

Ignoring the political uneasiness, the Footsie followed Wall Street higher, with US investors emboldened by positive indications about a trade talks between the US and China to break a five-day losing streak overnight,

"This is still very fragile so we are not sure if this will last," said analyst Naeem Aslam at Think Markets. He noted that bargain hunters were jumping back in the tech sector, which led to a boost for the likes of Micro Focus, which was top of the leaderboard.

A rally in oil prices was also a key element lifting the UK benchmark, with heavyweights BP and Shell carried higher as Brent crude jumped 1.6% to $67.71 a barrel.

In other corporate news, cigarette maker Imperial Brands was in the green after saying it was developing a version of electronic cigarettes that could be locked to prevent possible underage use, after a fresh US regulatory crackdown on vaping. The announcement from FTSE 100-listed Imperial came a day after the US Food and Drug Administration announced new restrictions on flavoured e-cigs.

Safety and health technology group Halma gained as it announced the acquisition of radar surveillance and safety solutions provider Navtech Radar for £21m on a cash- and debt-free basis, funded from Halma's existing facilities.

Kier rallied as the construction company expressed confidence about meeting its 2019 full year expectations and said that its order books and development pipelines remain strong.

Gold miner Centamin shone after an upgrade to 'overweight' at Morgan Stanley, while outsourcer Capita bounced back from heavy losses earlier in the week, when it came under fire for an NHS cervical cancer screening blunder.

Going the other way, AstraZeneca was the standout loser as it said that a phase 3 trial of its Imfinzi drug showed that it was no better than chemotherapy in treating patients with non-small cell lung cancer that has spread to other organs.

Shire was a touch weaker even as the biopharmaceutical group said that a phase 3 trial of its lanadelumab drug showed that it significantly reduced the number of attacks of hereditary angioedema in patients treated with 300 mg every two weeks.

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Top 10 FTSE 100 Risers

#		Name	Change Pct	Change	Cur Price
1		Coca Cola HBC AG	+2.67%	+63.00	2,419.00
2		Micro Focus International	+2.48%	+35.00	1,445.50
3		Experian	+2.36%	+43.50	1,887.00
4		Smurfit Kappa Group	+2.31%	+52.00	2,306.00
5		TUI AG	+2.15%	+27.00	1,283.50
6		3i Group	+2.13%	+16.80	806.60
7		Imperial Brands	+1.92%	+50.00	2,653.50
8		Schroders	+1.86%	+47.00	2,576.00
9		Ashtead Group	+1.78%	+33.50	1,920.00
10		Johnson Matthey	+1.76%	+52.00	3,005.00

Top 10 FTSE 100 Fallers

#		Name	Change Pct	Change	Cur Price
1		Fresnillo plc	-2.82%	-24.00	826.00
2		Royal Bank Of Scotland	-2.01%	-4.50	219.70
3		Shire Plc	-1.63%	-75.50	4,545.50
4		AstraZeneca	-1.57%	-99.00	6,218.00
5		National Grid	-1.33%	-11.20	828.90
6		Lloyds Banking Group	-1.28%	-0.71	54.74
7		Hammerson Plc	-1.20%	-5.10	418.20
8		Persimmon	-1.15%	-25.00	2,154.00
9		Segro Plc	-0.94%	-5.80	609.20
10		Barratt Developments	-0.83%	-4.20	501.20

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US stocks closed higher on Thursday, reversing losses seen in the previous session, as the dollar surged against the pound and investors continued to eye the headlines around trade talks between the US and China.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 0.83% higher at 25,289.27, while the S&P 500 was up 1.06% to 2,730.20 and the Nasdaq was 1.72% firmer at 7,259.03.

After opening almost 200 points lower on Thursday, the Dow avoided recorded its longest skid in five months as a report that Washington looked set to back off its aggressive stance against China began to do the rounds.

Crude-oil futures surrendered earlier gains, while gold prices moved ahead 0.29% and the US dollar traded 0.11% firmer.

In corporate news, 3M picked up 3.56% after the company set out its financial guidance for 2019, while Walmart slipped 1.96% throughout the session despite posting better-than-expected third-quarter earnings and lifting its full-year adjusted earnings per share outlook.

JC Penney closed 11.48% higher after its new CEO said ending losses would be a "lengthy process", while NetApp lost 11.73% after missing revenue expectations in the second quarter of its trading year.

Nvidia crashed 16.72% and Nordstrom tumbled 9.90% in after-hours trading on the back of their own quarterly figures.

On the data front, US jobless claims edged slightly higher by surprise last week.

According to the Bureau of Labour Statistics, initial unemployment claims for the week ending on 10 November rose by 2,000 to reach 216,000.

Economists had pencilled-in a reading of 210,000.

In parallel, the four-week moving average, which aims to smooth out the fluctuations in the data from one week to the next, increased by 1,500 to 215,250.

US retail sales grew quicker than expected last month, boosted by sales of motor vehicles, building materials and at gasoline stations.

Total retail sales volumes grew at a 0.8% month-on-month pace in October to reach $511.5bn, according to the Department of Commerce. Economists had forecast an increase of 0.5%.

September retail sales, however, were revised lower by two-tenths of a percentage point to reveal a drop of 0.1% month-on-month. Versus a year ago, retail sales were up by 4.6%.

Meanwhile, the import price index rose 0.5% in October on the back of rising gas prices was a big contributor.

The increase in import prices over the past 12 months moved up to 3.5% from 3.1%.

Elsewhere, manufacturing conditions in the Philadelphia region deteriorated more than expected in November, according to a survey released on Thursday.

The Philadelphia Fed's index for current manufacturing activity slumped to 12.9 this month from 22.2 in October, marking its lowest reading since August and coming in below expectations for a much smaller drop to 20.0.

Nearly 35% of manufacturers reported an increase in overall activity this month, while 22% reported decreases.

Lastly, business conditions in the New York region unexpectedly improved in November, according to a survey from the New York Fed.

The Empire State manufacturing index rose to 23.3 from 21.1 in October, beating expectations for a reading of 20.0. The survey found that 41% of respondents reported an improvement in conditions over the month, while 18% said conditions had worsened.

The new orders index slipped to 20.4 this month from 22.5 in October, while the shipments index rose to 28.0 from 26.3. The delivery time gauge ticked down to 5.0 from 4.4 and the inventories index surged to 10.9 from 0.8 last month.

Meanwhile, the index for future business conditions pushed up five points to 33.6.

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A European Court ruling has thrown the UK’s energy security into disarray by ordering the immediate halt to a £1bn scheme designed to keep Britain’s lights on. The cornerstone energy security scheme has come to an abrupt standstill after the European Union’s Court of Justice ruled that the UK should not be allowed to pay power plants to stay open. - Telegraph

Theresa May was at the mercy of her remaining Brexiteer cabinet ministers last night after being left weakened by an attempted coup and wave of resignations. The prime minister failed to persuade Michael Gove to become her third Brexit secretary as she tried to stem the flow of ministers from government. - The Times

Ireland will remain an open door to the UK for EU citizens after Brexit with no mandatory passport checks on those who travel to Britain via Dublin and Belfast, it has been confirmed. After Brexit, EU citizens not already settled in the UK will be subject to immigration rules but will be able to travel to Britain via Ireland and Northern Ireland uninhibited. - Guardian

Britain’s leading consumer group has called on banks to justify nearly 13,000 bank branch closures that have left millions of people struggling to access vital financial services across the UK. Figures compiled by the consumer charity Which? show that the UK has lost nearly two-thirds of its bank and building society branches over the past 30 years, from 20,583 in 1988 to 7,586 today. - Guardian

A gambling addict who was distressed after losing more than £25,000 in one night playing roulette and fixed-odds betting terminals was later found dead at his home. Huseyin Yaman, 37, lost the money over a few hours at Aspers Casino in east London and became angry and agitated, shouting that the machines were fixed. Staff tried to calm him down then called the police. - The Times

The number of new homes built in the past year hit a decade high as the government edged closer to its goal of delivering 300,000 annually in England, according to official figures. A total of 222,190 net additional dwellings were created in the year to March, a 2 per cent increase on 2016-17. It was the most delivered in a year since 2007-08. - The Times

The Restaurant Group’s campaign to persuade shareholders to back its £559 million takeover of Wagamama received a boost yesterday when a proxy adviser backed the deal. Institutional Shareholder Services said that the purchase of the Asian noodle bar chain was “supported by strong strategic rationale and substantial synergies”. - The Times

Amazon has fired the starting gun on Black Friday, the US tradition that has become a near-fortnight long £10bn shopping extravaganza in the UK. The web giant has been joined by other high street street names, including Argos and Currys PC World, in making an early start to the bargain shopping event on Friday 23 November. - Guardian

Ford has been meeting with multiple rival carmakers to try to secure “billions of dollars” to fund the development of its own driverless cars, one of its executives has said. The US car giant, which invested $1bn (£780m) in its self-driving car unit Argo AI last year, revealed that it is approaching a “broad” number of competitors for further investment, according to reports. - Telegraph

The family of a victim of the Lion Air crash has started legal action against Boeing, after pilots and airlines said the manufacturer had not made them aware of new features in its 737 Max-8 aircraft that could be linked to the disaster. A Florida-based law firm has filed a suit against Boeing on behalf of the parents of Rio Nanda Pratama, a doctor who had been due to marry in Indonesia this week. - Guardian

Aston Martin has roared ahead in its maiden numbers as a public company, almost doubling its revenues and vehicle sales. The luxury sports car company said it sold 1,776 cars in the third quarter, up from 891 in the same period last year, with motorists in America, Asia-Pacific and China driving demand. - Telegraph

Camelot is threatening to take legal action against a rival lottery company that has started taking bets on a new draw called Euromillionaire, launched after it was banned from taking bets on the official Euromillions draw. Betting on the National Lottery’s Lotto and Euromillions draws is illegal, but until recently the Gibraltar-based Lottoland was able to exploit a loophole by taking bets on the Euromillions draws in other countries. - The Times

Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s petrochemicals company has continued its spending spree with a $1.1 billion deal for a business that makes resins and other products used in boatbuilding. Ineos, which is controlled by the billionaire tycoon, said that its enterprises division had agreed to buy Ashland Global Holdings’ entire composite business, which has 1,300 staff in 20 manufacturing sites across Europe, the Americas, Asia and the Middle East and makes products such as resins, gel coats and corrosion-resistant fibreglass reinforced plastic. These are used in building ships and other vehicles. - The Times

The administrators of Wonga have revealed that the defunct payday lender’s assets are worth only a fraction of the value estimated when it collapsed over the summer. A document filed yesterday by Grant Thornton said that the total value had been put at more than £70 million. However, the estimated proceeds from selling its various assets were likely to raise less than £30 million, it said. - The Times