* FTSE 100, FTSE 250 up 0.7 pct
* Sainsbury's tanks as CMA objects to Asda deal
* Lloyds, Glencore shine after results
* Financials, miners lead main index higher
* Intu Properties slips among mid-caps
* Flybe soars on alternate financing proposal (Adds company news items, updates to closing prices)By Shashwat Awasthi and Muvija MFeb 20 (Reuters) - London's main bourse rose as Lloydsgained after promising to return cash to shareholders andoptimism prevailed over China-U.S. trade talks.But Sainsbury's lost nearly a fifth of its market value asregulators objected to its takeover of Walmart's Asda.Both the FTSE 100 and the FTSE 250 ended theday with 0.7 percent higher.
Stocks in Wall Street were also in positive territory asinvestors awaited the Federal Reserve's minutes from its latestmeeting. Hopes of a breakthrough in the U.S.-China trade talkslifted spirits as U.S. President Donald Trump said he was opento extending their March 1 deadline. Lagging the main index by a wide margin was Sainsbury's , which lost 18.5 percent as Britain's competitionregulator said its deal with Walmart-owned Asda shouldeither be blocked or require the sale of a significant number ofstores and possibly one of the brands. Sainsbury's stock gave up all the gains it had accumulatedsince the $9.5 billion deal was announced and suffered its worstday in over a decade, with a billion pounds wiped off its marketvalue. Walmart dipped more than 3 percent.Rival Morrisons tumbled 5.3 percent as well."Sainsbury's is the squeezed middle, losing market share todiscounters and simultaneously losing out to more premiumbrands. The worry is it has no credible plan except thismerger", said Neil Wilson, analyst at Markets.com.
Lloyds Banking Group added 4.7 percent on its bestday in two and a half years after Britain's biggest mortgagelender raised its dividend and announced a share buyback,despite weaker-than-expected annual profit growth. Glencore rose 2.5 percent after announcing a $2billion share buyback and an 8 percent rise in full-yearadjusted core earnings. Miners , which were at an 8-month high, andfinancials boosted the FTSE 100 as well.
On the midcaps, Acacia Mining surged 12.8 percentas Canadian miner Barrick Gold outlined details of adeal it reached with the Tanzanian government to settle itsdisputes with the London-listed miner. A standout faller was Intu Properties , whichdropped 8 percent after it scrapped its dividend, under pressurefrom several retail bankruptcies. But the domestically-focussed mid-cap index was buoyed byindustrials and consumer stocks as Prime Minister Theresa Mayreturned to Brussels hoping to find a way forward for hercontentious divorce deal on exiting the European Union.Among small-caps, McBride lost a third of its valueafter the cleaning products maker forecast full-year adjustedpretax profit to be about 10-15 percent lower than last year. Flybe more than doubled its market value aftersaying it had received an alternative financing proposal from anew consortium, challenging a Richard Branson-backed group thatagreed to buy out the regional airline. <^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^Sainsbury's overtakes FTSE since Asda deal announcement ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^> (Reporting by Shashwat Awasthi and Muvija M in Bengaluru;editing by Gareth Jones)
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