Markets higher but “could be years” for US and China to reach trade deal

Markets were mostly higher on Friday.

The S&P 500 rose 0.1 percent while the STOXX Europe 600 rose 0.6 percent. However, the Nikkei 225 fell 0.2 percent.

Markets largely shrugged off UK Prime Minister Theresa May’s resignation as Conservative party leader after she had failed in a final attempt to win parliamentary support for her deal on the UK's exit from the European Union.

Markets may have reacted favourably to US President Donald Trump's comment on Thursday that the US could ease its ban on Huawei as “some part” of a wider trade deal with China, with Deutsche Bank Research analysts saying that it showed that “he remains amenable to a broad deal”.

Still, analysts at ANZ Research said that since both sides “will only negotiate on their own terms, it could be years before the two powers can find sufficient common ground”.