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Reuters A coal truck passes others inside coal giant Rio Tinto’s Hunter Valley operations.
Commodity producers lifted London-listed stocks on Friday, as economic data from both the U.S. and China were mostly stronger than forecast.
The FTSE 100 UKX, +0.52% rose 0.6% to 7291.86 with gainers including oil giant BP BP, +1.21% and miner Rio Tinto RIO, +2.70%.
Data from China showed the Caixin measure of manufacturing PMI at a 32-month high, and U.S. nonfarm payrolls grew a stronger-than-forecast 128,000.
While the ISM manufacturing index slightly missed forecasts, the index on new-export orders shot higher, and the series on new orders also increased.
The IHS Markit/CIPS U.K. manufacturing PMI meanwhile rose to a 6-month high in October, though at 49.6, it is still below a level at 50 that signals contraction. The U.K. numbers were helped by stock building and purchasing activity in advance to the October Brexit departure date that was subsequently postponed.
