December 3, Monday: Global indices moved onto the front foot, led by a resurgence in Asian equities overnight as G20 trade rhetoric pointed to a mellowing of US-China trade relations. Miners led the FTSE 100(+1.18%) higher on this bout of optimism, as Trump announced progress had been made between the two superpowers with respect to a tariff reduction for US car exports into China, alongside other issues.

Dunelm(+14.64%) dragged the FTSE 250 higher on behalf of a broker upgrade from Peel Hunt. The retailer was upgraded to “buy” as analysts determined that the business is in better shape due to disposal of 2016’s Worldstores acquisition, and LFL sales that continued to outstrip sales growth seen by the wider market. Dunelm’s competitive position is enhanced by the nature and location of its store portfolio which lends itself to low rent costs.

Yesterday saw Brent Crude bounce 5.47% ahead of Thursday’s OPEC meeting which is expected to result in a production cut, whilst company efforts to avert any adverse stock/inventory impact post-Brexit manifested itself in today’s strong UK manufacturing PMI data which came in at 53.1 for November, improving on October’s 51.1 read. IHS Market also indicated that new business exports dropped for the second month in a row in November, the first back-to-back contraction since early 2016 as Brexit worries weighed on exports and optimism among manufacturers stooped to a 27-month low.

At the close European equities were higher, with the FTSE 100 +1.18%, the CAC 40 +1.00% and the DAX 30 +1.85%.