Last checked at 
* FTSE 100 up 2.6%, FTSE 250 adds 3.3%
* Banks surge on the back of StanChart, Barclays results
* Soaring oil prices lift shares in BP, Shell
* Gilead news boosts market sentiment globally
(Updates with market closing)
By Devik Jain and Sagarika Jaisinghani
April 29 (Reuters) - UK shares jumped on Wednesday as
encouraging news on a potential COVID-19 treatment and a surge
in shares of lenders Barclays and Standard Chartered following
results added to a strong rally in equities this month.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 closed 2.6% higher, while the
domestically-oriented midcap stocks gained 3.3%.
UK shares are on course to end April with solid gains,
recouping more than a third of the losses since the market rout
began in February as the coronavirus crisis spread.
Hope is returning, boosting appetite for risky assets, as
countries report falling infection rates and begin to ease
restrictions amidst encouraging news for an experimental
COVID-19 treatment.
U.S. drugmaker Gilead Sciences said its
experimental antiviral drug remdesivir helped improve outcomes
for COVID-19 patients in a clinical trial.
That set off a rally in the UK's cyclical sectors such as
banks, oil and gas companies, miners and travel stocks - which
have sharply underperformed during the viral pandemic.
The news helped investors look past data that showed the
U.S. economy, the world's biggest, recorded its sharpest
contraction in the first quarter since the 2008 financial
crisis.
"We've seen the story play out a bunch of times in the past
few weeks. The markets are just ignoring short-term economic
data," said Guy Lebas at Janney Montgomery Scott in
Philadelphia. "The duration of the downturn matters more than
the depth of the downturn."
In earnings-driven news, Barclays Plc jumped 13% as
a stellar performance from its investment bank helped soften a
blow to the bank's profits due to a surge in bad debt provision.
Asia-focused Standard Chartered PLC soared 12% as
it expects its main markets to lead a global recovery from the
health crisis even as increased bad loan provisions squashed
quarterly profit.
Oil majors BP Plc and Royal Dutch Shell rose
more than 3% after crude prices rebounded on smaller-than-
feared build in U.S. stockpiles.
Among midcap stocks, electricals retailer Dixons Carphone
jumped 18.2% after it said strong online demand had made
up for around two-thirds of store sales lost due to the
lockdown.
Battered travel stocks also gained with cruise operator
Carnival Plc jumping 16.5% to the top of FTSE 100.
Shares in British Airways owner IAG gained 5.7% as
it unveiled plans to axe up to 12,000 jobs to survive what is
expected to be aviation's worst downturn without a state
bailout.
(Reporting by Devik Jain, Sagarika Jaisinghani and Sruthi
Shankar in Bengaluru
Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila and Mark Heinrich)
