(For a Reuters live blog on U.S., UK and European stock
markets, click LIVE/ or type LIVE/ in a news window)
* Recruiter Hays jumps on higher fee earnings
* Dunelm Group gains on strong rise in sales
* Ashmore slips as AUM drops by $3.1 billion
* FTSE 100 up 0.9%, FTSE 250 adds 1.0%
(Updates to close)
By Shashank Nayar and Bansari Mayur Kamdar
Oct 14 (Reuters) - London's FTSE 100 rose to a two-month
high on Thursday, boosted by heavyweight oil and mining stocks,
while retailer Tesco was the top drag as its shares traded
ex-dividend.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 index climbed 0.9% and
recorded its best session in a week, with miners Antofagasta
, Rio Tinto and Glencore among the top
performers.
Oil majors BP and Royal Dutch Shell gained
0.8% and 1.4%, respectively tracking over 1% jump in crude
prices.
Industrial miners and oil stocks
are the top performing sub-indexes so far this
year, adding 28% and 37%, respectively.
The mining index has surged over 200% since their March 2020
lows on recovering metal demand as economies re-opened from
pandemic-led lockdowns.
"On a broader basis, a slowdown in the global economic
recovery could easily trigger a pullback in commodity prices in
the near-term, but for today it seems that investors are very
much risk-on," said Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell.
The FTSE 100 has gained 11.6% so far this year but the pace
has slowed on bets that rising inflation pressures will lead
central banks to pull back their accommodative monetary
policies.
Bank of England policymaker Silvana Tenreyro said the
central bank should not raise interest rates to tackle a surge
in inflation caused by higher prices for energy and
semi-conductors if it thinks these effects will be short-lived.
The domestically focussed mid-cap index advanced
1.0%, with recruiter Hays Plc among the top gainers.
The stock rose 3.0% after the company reported a jump in its
quarterly net fees.
Dunelm Group Plc rose -0.2% after reporting a
strong rise in sales despite an uncertain outlook for the coming
year.
Ashmore Group fell 0.1% after its assets under
management fell by $3.1 billion during the third quarter of 2021
on emerging market woes and institutional outflows.
(Reporting by Bansari Mayur Kamdar and Amal S; Editing by
Subhranshu Sahu and Sriraj Kalluvila)