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(Alliance News) - Stocks in London ended higher on Monday recovering some of last Friday's losses as investors adopted a more hopeful view on the latest Covid-19 variant.
Major indices tumbled on Friday due to worries the Omicron variant could derail the global economic recovery. But investors appeared more optimistic that vaccines and therapeutics may limit the impact of the latest outbreak.
Pfizer has already started working on a version of its Covid-19 vaccine specifically targeting the Omicron variant in case the current inoculation is not effective against the new strain, the US drugmaker's Chief Executive Officer Albert Bourla said.
Pfizer shares were up 0.2% in New York.
The FTSE 100 closed up 65.92 points, or 0.9%, at 7,109.95. The UK flagship index dropped 266.34 points, or 3.6%, to 7,044.03 on Friday.
The FTSE 250 ended up 218.44 points, or 1.0%, at 22,756.33, and the AIM All-Share closed up 9.12 points, or 0.8%, at 1,190.74.
The Cboe UK 100 ended up 1.0% at 705.50, the Cboe UK 250 closed up 0.9% at 20,242.70, and the Cboe Small Companies ended up 0.6% at 14,811.20.
In Paris the CAC 40 stock index ended up 0.5%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt ended up 0.2%.
Stocks in New York were rebounding somewhat from Friday's sharp losses, with the DJIA up 0.3%, the S&P 500 index up 0.9% and the Nasdaq Composite up 1.3%.
"The rebound today is a natural reaction to Friday's drama, which in itself was perhaps overdone and a reflection of the half day and low volumes prevailing on Wall Street. Dip buyers are emerging across a host of sectors, and as ever it will take a while for the market to claw back all the losses suffered last week," said IG Group's Chris Beauchamp.
"UK investors have spent the day picking up some relative bargains in global economy names like Compass, BP and BHP Group, as the risk aversion of Friday ebbs away. A less severe viral variant implies a more modest reaction from governments this time around, with a smaller hit to GDP than that seen last year. Some of Friday's more extreme movements are thus being unwound today, although a hint of caution persists," added Beauchamp.
Compass closed up 4.7% and BHP up 2.9%.
In the FTSE 100, BT Group ended the best performer, up 6.1% following a report that Reliance Industries is mulling a bid for the telecommunications firm.
Citing people familiar with the matter, the Economics Times reported that Reliance could make an unsolicited offer to buy into BT or try to take a controlling stake. It also could propose to partner with BT's fibre optic arm Openreach and fund its expansion plans.
Oil majors BP, Royal Dutch Shell 'A' and Shell 'B' closed up 3.2%, 2.5% and 2.4% respectively, as oil prices attempted to recoup some of Friday's heavy losses.
Brent oil was quoted at USD73.88 a barrel at the London equities close, up from USD73.54 at the close Friday.
At the other end of the large-caps, Hargreaves Lansdown ended the worst performer, down 5.6%, after Morgan Stanley cut the fund supermarket to Underweight from Equal Weight.
In addition, abrdn lost 1.0% after Morgan Stanley downgraded the fund manager to Underweight from Equal Weight.
In the FTSE 250, WH Smith, which has outposts selling magazines and snacks at airports and train stations, ended the best performer, up 5.5%. Further, leisure stocks such as movie theatre firm Cineworld and casing dining chain owner Restaurant Group were up 1.8% and 5.0% respectively.
Elsewhere in London, Amigo Holdings sank 29% after the guarantor loans provider warned that the sanctioning of a new scheme for addressing historic complaints has become "increasingly urgent".
In September, Amigo said it had submitted a revised scheme proposal, incorporating feedback from the Independent Customers' Committee, along with its future business plan to the Financial Conduct Authority and the ICC.
The scheme was proposed by the company to settle claims following probes from UK regulators into mis-sold loans and the way that Amigo dealt with customer complaints.
Concerning its current state, Amigo said the approval of a new scheme for addressing its complaints is subject to key milestones such as a second successful creditor vote and being sanctioned by the High Court.
"At this point, the board does not consider there to be enough certainty to account for claims redress on the basis that a scheme will be sanctioned," the company stated. In order to support its future business, Amigo will be proposing an equity raise.
In addition, Amigo considers the sanctioning of a scheme to be urgent, otherwise it will have to file for administration or take another insolvency process.
The dollar was higher across the board. The pound was quoted at USD1.3305 at the London equities close, down from USD1.3322 at the close Friday.
The euro stood at USD1.1270 at the European equities close, down from USD1.1315. Against the yen, the dollar was trading at JPY113.70, up from JPY113.24.
Gold stood at USD1,783.85 an ounce at the London equities close, lower against USD1,799.30 late Friday.
The economic events calendar on Tuesday has China manufacturing PMI overnight, Germany unemployment data at 0855 GMT and eurozone inflation readings at 1000 GMT.
The UK corporate events calendar on Tuesday has annual results from budget airline easyJet, London west end landlord Shaftesbury, magazine publisher Future and Irish convenience foods maker Greencore Group.
By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com
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