Stocks and oil gain as traders shrug off Trump's tariff news

European stocks rose on Wednesday as traders seemed untroubled by US President Donald Trump's announcement that he would impose a 50% tariff on imported copper and soon introduce levies of up to 200% for pharmaceuticals.

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Trump’s comments on Tuesday sent the price of copper soaring to record highs and caused Wall Street to close lower.

But equity markets soon shrugged off the news. Asian stocks were mixed overnight and at 0956 GMT the MSCI World Equity Index was up 0.1% on the day.

London's FTSE 100 was up 0.2% and the pan-European STOXX 600 was up 0.88.

Wall Street futures pointed to the gains continuing, with S&P 500 and Nasdaq futures both up by 0.1%.

The US dollar index was little changed at 97.567 and the euro was down 0.1% at $1.1714.

The dollar touched its highest level in more than two weeks against the yen, as Japan, which is dependent on exports, stands out among major US trading partners as being the farthest from reaching a trade deal with Washington.

US copper futures jumped by more than 10% to a record high after Trump threatened new duties on the metal that is critical to electric vehicles, military hardware, the power grid and many consumer goods.

Traders are awaiting further developments in Trump's trade war in the coming days, after he told 14 nations on Monday that they will face sharply higher tariffs from a new deadline of August 1.