EU's Barnier: Confident that balanced and sustainable agreement with UK is possible – Reuters

European Union's (EU) chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier believes that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson wants to make a deal with the EU despite publicly talking up readiness for a no-deal, Reuters reported on Monday, citing diplomatic sources.

Additional takeaways

"Barnier told EU27 envoys after latest UK talks he remains confident that balanced and sustainable agreement is possible, even if less ambitious."

"Even low-quality, low-profile deal with Britain would need to include level playing field, fisheries provisions."

"Ireland, the Netherlands confident new EU-UK deal will come together eventually."

"Lithuania, Hungary concerned EU27 may be weakening chances for overall UK deal with tough demands on fisheries."

Market reaction

These comments don't seem to be having an impact on market sentiment. As of writing, the UK's FTSE 100 was down 0.2% on the day at 6,111.