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(Alliance News) - Gains accelerated in London as Tuesday's session progressed, with travel stocks once again amongst the top performers as traders eye an easing of Covid-19 lockdowns across Europe.

The FTSE 100 index was up 67.34 points, or 1.1%, at 6,233.76 Tuesday midday. The mid-cap FTSE 250 index was up 218.93 points, or 1.3%, at 17,496.46. The AIM All-Share index was up 0.7% at 888.99.

The Cboe UK 100 index was up 1.1% at 10,543.83. The Cboe 250 was up 1.4% at 14,995.71, and the Cboe UK Small Companies up 1.5% at 9,522.13.

In mainland Europe, the CAC 40 in Paris was up 2.0% while the DAX 30 in Frankfurt rallied 3.8% as markets in Germany re-opened from Monday's holiday.

"European markets are firmly in positive territory once again, with the Dax playing catch-up after yesterday's holiday as it surges 3%, and US futures are positive. This comes as the US domestic situation appears to worsen, but a market-centric view might argue that this at least distracts the president from his quarrel with China, and thus reduces the likelihood of the trade war being revived," said Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG.

"For a second day the FTSE 100 is dominated by stocks finding strong inflows thanks to a more optimistic outlook on the global economy," said Beauchamp. "Airlines, travel, engineering, oil and luxury retail are all featured in the big gainers in London this morning, continuing yesterday's bounceback theme".

Jet engine maker Rolls-Royce was up 6.3%, BP up 4.7% and easyJet up 3.7%.

Brent oil was trading at USD39.40 a barrel on Tuesday, aiding BP's rise, up from USD37.60 late Monday. Gold was quoted at USD1,738.10 an ounce, higher than USD1,734.85 on Monday.

Wall Street is pointed towards a higher start, with the Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq all called up 0.7%.

Unrest continued in the US on Monday, with President Donald Trump vowing to order a military crackdown on once-in-a-generation violent protests gripping the country.

The dramatic escalation came a week after the death in Minneapolis of George Floyd, an unarmed black man who was killed when a white police officer knelt on his neck, leading to the worst civil unrest in decades in New York, Los Angeles and dozens of other American cities.

"I am dispatching thousands and thousands of heavily armed soldiers, military personnel and law enforcement officers to stop the rioting, looting, vandalism, assaults and the wanton destruction of property," Trump said.

He slammed the previous night's unrest in Washington as a "total disgrace" and called on governors to "dominate the streets".

Despite the president's rhetoric, Monday's protests appeared largely peaceful in major cities, though some looting was reported in New York and Los Angeles.

Europe is "shocked and appalled" by the police killing of black suspect George Floyd in the US, the EU's diplomatic chief said Tuesday, condemning an "abuse of power".

High Representative Josep Borrell urged US authorities to rein in the "excessive use of force".

Ricardo Evangelista, senior analyst at ActivTrades, commented: "Financial markets have so far largely shrugged aside heightened social tensions in the US and lingering attrition with China, continuing to ride a wave of optimistic risk-on. Hopes of a swift economic recovery in the aftermath of the current Covid-19 pandemic continue to condition investors insistent on seeing a glass half-full scenario. This is why the dollar, the go to currency during the darkest days of the great lockdown, is now devaluing against other major currencies".

Schools, swimming pools, pubs and tourist sites have begun to throw open their doors again in Europe as the continent continues easing lockdowns despite the threat of a second wave of infections.

Bars have started to serve again in Finland and Norway – with social distancing restrictions or shortened hours in place – while some schools in Britain and Greece opened their doors. France registered 31 deaths over the last 24 hours, and on Tuesday is set to reopen cafes, restaurants and bistros, closed since its lockdown began in mid-March.

Sterling was quoted at USD1.2561 Tuesday midday, higher than USD1.2470 at the London equities close on Monday at trading around its best levels for a month. The euro traded at USD1.1167 on Tuesday, firm on USD1.1125 late Monday.

However, the greenback was firm against the safe haven Japanese yen. The dollar was quoted at JPY107.77 versus JPY107.60.

Back in London, Tesco fell 1.8% after announcing Chief Financial Officer Alan Stewart will retire from his role and the company on April 30, 2021.

Stewart has been in his role at the FTSE 100-listed supermarket chain for six years since 2014, and prior to that was in the same role at food and clothing retailer Marks & Spencer Group PLC for four years since 2010.

Tesco said it will now conduct a search both internally and externally to identify a successor.

Electrocomponents was up 6.8% the industrial and electronics products distributor said it has decided to defer final dividend dividend until it has greater visibility over the Covid-19 outbreak situation, despite a rise in annual revenue from all regions.

For the financial year to the end of March, the company's pretax profit rose 2.3% to GBP199.6 million from GBP195.2 million the year before, on revenue that grew by 3.7% to GBP1.95 billion from GBP1.88 billion.

On a like-for-like basis, revenue increased 2.2%, driven by continued share gains in industrial revenue, more than offsetting a slowdown in electronics.

McCarthy & Stone was up 6.3% after the retirement homes developer said it plans to reopen sales offices and resume construction site activity from Monday next week.

The FTSE 250-listed firm said that following a review of sales and construction processes, it intends to restart sales activities on its already completed developments which comprise around 1,350 units, worth around GBP325 million.

Build activities will restart gradually starting with the reopening of sites that are closest to completion, McCarthy & Stone said, adding that it has implemented operating procedures to enable safe working practices and social distancing measures among staff.

Card Factory shares were down 1.4% after the company reported a drop in annual profit, as like-for-like sales fell on weak consumer confidence and high street footfall declined in the second half of the year.

For the year to the end of January, the greeting cards retailer reported pretax profit of GBP65.2 million, 4.4% lower from GBP68.2 million the year before. This was despite revenue increasing by 3.6% year-on-year to GBP451.5 million from GBP436.0 million.

Like-for-like sales meanwhile dropped by 0.5%, compared to a 0.1% drop the prior year.

Card Factory will not be paying a final dividend for the year, and does not expect to make any further payouts in its current financial year.

By Lucy Heming; lucyheming@alliancenews.com

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