The FTSE 100 was up 0.8% at 7,535.6 in late morning trading on Tuesday on peace talks between Russia and Ukraine, as the market held its breath for progress between the embattled states.

The price of oil fell on the back of the peace talks and China’s Covid-19 lockdown in Shanghai, with Brent Crude at $112 per barrel, after sanctions against Russia saw the price skyrocket above $120 per barrel earlier in March.

Shell’s share price increased 1.2% and BP’s share rose 0.3% despite the decline in oil prices.

“Having tripped over on Monday afternoon amid concern about China lockdowns and the conflict in Ukraine the FTSE 100 sprang back to its feet on Tuesday on hopes the latest round of peace talks between Moscow and Kyiv might yield tangible progress,” said AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould.

“The resilience of global stocks given the cocktail of risks facing the global economy is truly impressive but this stoicism is likely to face continuing tests as the impact of mounting prices and the actions of central banks continue to feed through, not to mention the ongoing geopolitical concerns.”

Prudential shares saw an increase of 3.7% to 1,116p. It’s possible that the insurance providers refocus on Asia has started to pay off on the back of the latest Covid-19 lockdown in China, potentially sparking a wave of insurance purchases in light of the uncertainty in the region.

Coca-Cola HBC enjoyed a rise of 3.1% to 1,6397p on the back of renewed peace talks between Russia and Ukraine. Coca-Cola HBC shares are the FTSE 100’s biggest faller so far in 2022, down 34%, after its Ukraine operations were disrupted by Russia’s invasion in February.

Fresnillo saw its shares increase 2.7% to 745.2p despite gold price falling.

Royal Mail Group shares declined 3.7% to 341.5p as it continued its downward spiral of 34.1% over the year-to-date.

Barclays was down 3.6% to 154.5p as an investor sold a £900 million stake at 150p following the bank’s announcement of its intent to buy back a slew of restructured notes at a loss of £450 million after it accidentally sold too many, delaying a scheduled £1 billion share buyback scheme.

B&M fell 2.4% to 545.5p following a recall of products due to the presence of harmful bacteria and glass fragments, such as its Parson’s Pickles Pickled Mussels according to a warning issued by the Food Standards Administration (FSA).

888 saw its shares increase 0.3% to 189.2p in early morning trading on Tuesday following the announcement of its strategic “888Africa” brand investment in Africa.

The company reportedly signed an agreement with five “industry veterans” to form a joint-venture which will see the betting firm operate 888 brands across selected markets in Africa.

888 confirmed it has invested a minority stake in the venture with the option to increase its stake up to 100% and take control of the project.

888Africa is set to pay a brand license fee to operate 888’s brands in African markets, and will reportedly operate through a third-party technology platform with bespoke content and gaming for the local preferences of the region.

The joint-venture will be led by former Stars Group CMO Christopher Coyne, Voxbet Chairman Andrew Lee and former Editec Online CPO Alex Rutherford.

The project has also recruited former Stars Group Sportsbook Trading Director Ian Marmion and former Premier Bet CEO Helen Scott-Allen for its leadership team.

“We are delighted to launch 888Africa alongside 888,” said 888Africa CEO Christopher Coyne.

“With our team of experienced professionals and significant knowledge of the African markets, it is our ambition to build the business towards market-leading positions in selected regulated markets across the region.”

“Partnering with 888 will give us access to a world-class brand, as well as a broad team of experts to support our growth plans, further enhancing our confidence in our future prospects.”

Property developer Bellway saw its underlying operating profits grow 11.6% from £297.7m to £332.2m in H1 of 2022 due to volume growth. However, the threat of higher costs has hit investor sentiment and shares were down over 5% on Tuesday.

Compared to H1 2021, Bellway’s volume output has increased to 5,694 houses from 5,656 houses in H1 2022 with the average price for the homes exceeding £305,000 in 2022.

The company believes ‘long-term housing market fundamentals’ are favourable. The property developer expects to increase its total output to exceed 11,100 homes for the full year ending in July 2022.

On 13 March 2022, Bellway was already in a strong forward sales position with 7,491 houses in their order books, an increase from 6,028 houses, for a value of £2.2bn as opposed to £1.6bn in H1 2021.

Bellway saw its revenue increase by 3.5% to £1.78b from £1.72bn in H1 2021 as underlying demand increased by 5.8% in the overall reservation rate and 3.8% in the private reservation rate.

Bellway invested in 8,660 plots compared to 8,848 plots in H1 2022 across 45 sites with an expected gross margin of 23% to enable growth in the coming years for the group.

Price optimisation and cost control benefitted the underlying operating margin by 18.7% in H1 2022.

However, Bellway has increased building safety improvements adjustments by £22.1m, before a £2.5m recovery of provisions to aide past fire safety problems.

The pre-tax profit for the group increased by 8.9% to £327.2m from £300.5m in H1 2021.

The property company announced a 28.6% increase in interim dividends from 35p to 45p in H1 2022 with dividend cover expected to be 3x.

Ross Hindle, Senior Analyst, Third Bridge commented, “Bellway produced a steady set of results, with revenue increasing 3.5% to £1,780.0 million, in line with estimates, and continuing its impressive volume growth, with a further 5,694 new homes completed during the period.”

“Although inflated raw material and labour costs are a big factor, continued undersupply means Bellway continues to benefit from the yawning gap between housing supply and demand.”

“Rising costs, staffing shortages and cladding issues remain the three of the key challenges facing Bellway.”

Bellway saw its shares drop 1.7% to 2,555p despite delivering strong revenues in H1 of 2022 and creating optimism around the rest of its financial year.

AstraZeneca’s share price increased 0.6% in early morning trading on Tuesday following the company’s announcement that its product Ondexxya had been approved in Japan.

Japan became the first country to approve the drug for use with all three FXa inhibitors currently available.

The medicine is reportedly the first approved reversal agent for Factor X inhibitors, including apixaban, rivaroxaban and edoxaban.

Ondexxya is capable of reversing anticoagulation, which means the drug can be used to stop uncontrolled, life-threatening bleeding in patients.

The medicine is currently under conditional approval by the European Commission for adults treated with apixaban and rivaroxaban, which was received in 2019.

Ondexxya received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2018 and is marketed under the trade name Andexxa.

“With the approval of Ondexxya in Japan, we are working to make this important medicine available as quickly as possible for the small proportion of patients with life-threatening or uncontrolled bleeding who are on FXa inhibitors and who have not previously had an approved reversal agent treatment option,” said AstraZeneca Executive Vice President of BioPharmaceuticals R&D Mene Pangalos.

Rio Tinto shares have gained 1% to 5,922p in early morning trade on Tuesday after completing the acquisition of the Rincon lithium project.

The Argentinian Rincon lithium project was acquired for $825m by Rio Tinto once the Australian mining group received approval from Australia’s Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB).

Rincon is located in the Salta Province of Argentina and is an undeveloped lithium brine project. The project has scalable capabilities for battery-grade lithium carbonate, earning the region a reputation as an ’emerging hub for greenfield projects’.

When compared to solar evaporation ponds, the direct lithium extraction technology proposed for the project has the potential to substantially improve lithium recoveries.

Currently, a pilot plant is operating on the site, and future development will concentrate on further refining the method and recovery rates.

Rincon Mining, owned by Sentient Equity Partners, entered into a binding agreement with Rio Tinto in December 2021 for the acquisition of their Rincon lithium project.

Jakob Stausholm, Chief Executive Officer, Rio Tinto, said “Rincon strengthens our battery materials business and positions Rio Tinto to meet the double-digit growth in demand for lithium over the next decade, at a time when supply is constrained.” 

“We will be working with local communities, the Province of Salta and the Government of Argentina as we develop this project to the highest ESG standards.”

The second half of the next decade is expected to see a supply-demand deficit due to the expected demand increase of 25-35% for battery-grade lithium carbonate.