U.K. shares pushed higher on Tuesday as the pound weakened below $1.29 and data showed the U.K. recorded its first July surplus in 15 years.
Encouraging earnings updates from the likes of BHP Billiton and Antofagasta also supported underlying sentiment.
The benchmark FTSE 100 was up 47 points or 0.65 percent at 7,366 in late opening deals after closing 0.1 percent lower the previous day.
BHP Billiton shares rallied 3 percent after the mining giant reported a turnaround to a full-year profit of $5.9 billion and raised its final dividend.
Antofagasta climbed 3.7 percent after its half-year profit surged by nearly 90 percent, thanks to higher copper prices.
Persimmon added 1 percent as the housebuilder logged a 30 percent rise in first-half profit after selling more houses at higher prices.
Sareum Holdings jumped 14 percent. The specialist cancer drug discovery and development business expects its fiscal 2017 profit after tax and cash at bank to be ahead of market expectations.
On the flip side, subprime lender Provident Financial plunged almost 64 percent after issuing another profit warning in months.
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Market Analysis
June 19, 2026 16:46 ET Major central banks continued to dominate the economic news flow this week too, led by the Federal Reserve, as they announced their latest policy decisions. The Federal Reserve policy session was in focus as it was the first to be led by the new chief Kevin Warsh. In Europe, central banks of the U.K. and Switzerland announced their rate decisions. In Asia, the Bank of Japan drew attention for its policy moves, while data out of China threw some light on the state of the economy.