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* UK PMI drops to 37.1 in March, lowest since 1998
* Oil majors, miners biggest boost to FTSE
* FTSE 100 gains 9.1%, FTSE 250 up 8.4%
(Updates with closing price)
By Sruthi Shankar and Devik Jain
March 24 (Reuters) - The FTSE 100 saw its best day since the
huge swings of the 2008 financial crash on Tuesday, retracing
some of the past week's losses as massive stimulus efforts
globally calmed investors amid the rapid spread of coronavirus.
The FTSE 100 index jumped 9.1% after closing at a
more than eight-year low in the previous session, as investors
cheered the U.S. Federal Reserve's offer of unlimited expansion
of asset purchases and a $2-trillion stimulus package that U.S.
lawmakers are closing in on.
The upbeat global mood took over British markets despite
Britain going into lockdown as the number of coronavirus deaths
recorded its biggest daily jump - by 87 to a total of 422.
"The positive reaction in stock markets since the Fed's
extraordinary policy announcement yesterday belies the fact that
central bank actions have yet to quell the strains showing up
across the global financial system," Oliver Jones, senior
markets economist at Capital Economics, wrote in a note.
"It is hard to see a lasting recovery in equity prices until
those strains subside."
Some of the worst-hit stocks in the recent selloff such as
Carnival Corp shot up 28.3% even as Carnival-owned Ruby
Princess became Australia's largest source of coronavirus
infections.
The commodity-heavy FTSE 100 was also boosted by a jump in
oil and metal prices.
Oil majors BP Plc Royal Dutch Shell Plc
rallied more than 20%, while the wider mining index
rose 16%, led by BHP Group, Rio Tinto and Anglo
American Plc.
UK midcap shares also rose 8.4%.
However, both the blue-chip and the midcap indexes was set
for their worst month in over three decades as more companies
issued profit warnings, cut costs and flagged concerns over
rising debt.
Home furnishings retailer Dunelm Group said it
would draw down all its available credit and cancel interim
dividend payment due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Hotel operator Whitbread suspended shareholders'
dividends and said it would immediately shut all its hotels and
restaurants.
Britain's biggest sportswear retailer JD Sports rose
19% as it delayed the publication of financial results to May,
but said it has enough cash to ride out the coronavirus crisis.
Investors looked past latest data that showed Britain's
economy was shrinking at a record pace, faster than during the
2008-09 financial crisis.
The flash composite PMI sank to 37.1 from 53.0, its lowest
since the survey started in January 1998 and below all forecasts
in a Reuters poll of economists.
(Reporting by Sruthi Shankar and Devik Jain in Bengaluru;
Editing by Shounak Dasgupta, Arun Koyyur and Angus MacSwan)
