The FTSE 100 was up as much as 0.6% early this morning, after the White house and the Office of French President Emmanuel Macron announced that US President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin had agreed, without setting a date, to a summit over Ukraine. But this was dismissed hours later by Putin spokesman Dmitri Peskov, who said it was “premature” to talk about specific plans for a summit. As a result, the FTSE 100 was flat mid-morning.

Mining stocks are lifting this index, boosted by higher copper prices. Pharmaceutical companies are also among the best performers, including Dechra Pharmaceuticals, which gained 4.9% after its half-yearly revenue and profit beat expectations.

There are some other factors pushing UK equities up, with rumours that Boris Johnson is planning to scrap all restrictions. British Retail data shows that sales volume rebounded 2.0% in January after a drop in December due to Omicron.

Things to read today:

Big Oil on course for near-record $38 bln in stock buy-backs (Financial Times)

Fed Leans Against Expectations of Half-Point Hike in March (WSJ)

Europe’s Two Biggest Economies Grow Strongly as Virus Recedes (Bloomberg)