By Shashwat Awasthi
(Reuters) - London's FTSE 100 followed global peers higher on Friday after a senior U.S. official hinted that a trade deal with China might be imminent, while BT slipped after Britain's opposition party vowed to nationalise parts of the telecoms provider.
The main index rose 0.2%, boosted by miners (FTNMX1770), as well as oil majors BP (L:BP) and Shell (L:RDSa), after White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said Washington was getting close to a trade pact with Beijing.
The FTSE 250 (FTMC) also added 0.2%, led by a 7% rise in FirstGroup (L:FGP) after Britain's competition watchdog said it could accept undertakings offered by the company and Italy's TrenItalia for the West Coast rail franchise.
BT (L:BT) shed 2% after Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said his party would nationalise parts of the company's network if it won power in the Dec. 12 election, while fellow telecom companies Vodafone (L:VOD) and TalkTalk (L:TALK) gave up roughly 2% each.
Shares of other firms at risk of being nationalised under a Labour government, including Royal Mail (L:RMG), RBS (L:RBS), SSE (L:SSE), National Grid (L:NG), United Utilities (L:UU) and Severn Trent (L:SVT), were little changed.
The latest salvo by Labour ups the ante in Britain's volatile political scene less than a month out from the election, in which Credit Suisse (SIX:CSGN) believes Tories currently have the edge.
"Our base case is a Conservative majority, though lower than the polls currently predict," Credit Suisse analyst Sonali Punhan wrote.
"Voting is likely to be very fluid and could change as we move closer to the polling day... The election result is likely to be very uncertain."
News-driven moves were largely limited to smaller stocks.
Struggling floor coverings retailer Carpetright (L:CPRC) surged 13.5% and was on course for its best day in nearly seven months, after agreeing to be taken private by its largest shareholder Meditor.
By contrast, lender Non-Standard Finance (L:NSF) fell 13% to an all-time low and pub operator Fuller, Smith & Turner (L:FSTA) lost 7.7% after both companies issued profit warnings.
NSF shares have slumped nearly 30% since June, when the company failed in a hostile takeover of larger rival Provident Financial (L:PFG).