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* FTSE 100 up 1.6 pct, approaches 7,000-point level
* Global trade worries ease, miners rally
* GlaxoSmithKline jumps after agrees to by Novartis's JVstake
* Spreadbetters drop as ESMA clamps down on CFDs, 'binary'options
By Kit Rees
The blue chip FTSE 100 was up 1.6 percent at6,997.15 points by 0853 GMT, with almost every constituent inpositive territory, while mid cap shares rose 1 percent.
Risk assets came under pressure last week on the back ofworries over escalating global trade tensions after
However, hopes that tensions could ease were sparked byreports that Chinese and
"Suddenly the whole show is looking a lot like a negotiatingtool rather than any serious intention to imitate a trade war,"Fiona Cincotta, senior market analyst at City Index, said.
The FTSE 100 has been trading at its lowest levels sinceDecember 2016 and has posted losses for the past four sessionsin a row. So far the FTSE is down 9 percent in 2018.
"It comes back to more stock-picking, because last year itwas difficult to lose out as long as you were holding on tosomething," Mike van Dulken, head of research at AccendoMarkets, said.
Shares in miners Anglo American and Glencoreboth rose around 2.3 percent, with the materials sectoras a whole adding around 13 points to gains.
GlaxoSmithKline was another top gainer, its sharesup 4.3 percent after the pharma firm agreed to buy Novartis'stake in their consumer healthcare joint venture for
"Given the current low cost of debt financing, as GSK gainsfull rights to all the earnings of the Consumer division it willgain some earnings accretion," analysts at Jefferies said in anote.
Earnings were also a driver, with shares in heating andplumbing products supplier Ferguson jumping 5 percentclose to a two-month high after the company saw its first-halfprofit rise thanks to strength in its main U.S. market.
Among smaller stocks the focus was on spreadbetting firmsafter the European Union financial markets watchdog announcedplans to ban 'binary' options sales to retail clients andrestrict the sales of Contract for Differences (CFDs).
Shares in IG Group dropped 9.6 percent after theonline financial trading company warned on its 2019 revenuefollowing the announcement.
Peer CMC Markets fell 2.6 percent, while Plus500advanced 1 percent.
"The emergence of regulatory clarity should be a positive,given the overhang that has persisted for some time," analystsat Peel Hunt said in a note.(Reporting by Kit ReesEditing by Peter Graff)
