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* SSE hits three-month high on upbeat annual profit
* DIY group Kingfisher jumps after posting higher sales
* Online fashion group Boohoo surges on rosy forecast
* UK's Domino's Pizza slumps after weak outlook
* FTSE 100 up 0.2%, FTSE 250 adds 0.7%
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By Susan Mathew
June 17 (Reuters) - London's FTSE 100 rose for a second
straight day on Wednesday as a series of upbeat corporate
earnings bolstered hopes of an economic recovery, but the index
ended with a fraction of the session's gains as fears of a
second wave of COVID-19 persisted.
The blue-chip index gained as much as 1.1% during
the session but as Wall Street struggled to hold gains amid
rising numbers of cases in the United States, the FTSE pared
gains to close up 0.2%.
Declining oil prices weighed on energy stocks,
while banks and insurers also
fell.
"The more intensive outbreak in the second wave seems to
have the market a little bit nervous at the moment," said
Michael Baker, analyst at ETX Capital. "We are seeing a lot of
reactive trading rather than people positioning themselves for
the longer term."
Topping the FTSE 100, renewable power generator SSE Plc
surged 8.8% to its highest in three months after beating
annual profit estimates.
Taking the mid-cap FTSE 250 0.7% higher, home
improvement group Kingfisher climbed 6.4% on reporting a
jump in quarterly underlying sales.
Online fashion group Boohoo surged 5.5% as it
forecast annual results ahead of market expectations.
"Any sort of upswings in the market are going to be based on
earnings performance of companies because a majority of the
macro-related developments are already factored in," said Andrea
Cicione, head of strategy at TS Lombard.
UK stock markets have rebounded sharply from a
coronavirus-driven crash in March, with the FTSE 100 up about
27% since then, as investors bet on more global stimulus and an
easing of lockdowns to revive business activity.
Data on Wednesday showed British inflation hit a four-year
low in May, leaving the Bank of England free to ramp up its
stimulus programme again.
Domino's Pizza Group slumped 6% after saying its
first-half core earnings would be hit by additional costs.
(Reporting by Susan Mathew, Sagarika Jaisinghani and Shashank
Nayar in Bengaluru; editing by Uttaresh.V and Giles Elgood)
