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* FTSE bounces after BoE eases again
* Recent sterling slide helps exporters, banks also gain
* Joules, Playtech, Crest Nicholson scrap dividend
* FTSE 100 up 1.4%, FTSE 250 down 1.4%
(Updates with closing prices)
By Sruthi Shankar
March 19 (Reuters) - Britain's top shares ended a volatile
session higher on Thursday after the Bank of England cut
interest rates to a record low and ramped up its bond-buying
programme in a bid to rescue the economy from the coronavirus
crisis.
After wild swings earlier in the day, the blue-chip FTSE 100
rose 1.4%, with big dollar earners such as Diageo
, Royal Dutch Shell and AstraZeneca
providing the biggest boost, even as the pound recovered from a
35-year low.
The central bank cut interest rates to 0.1%, its second
emergency rate cut in just over a week, and promised 200 billion
pounds of additional bond purchases, and at a much faster pace
than normal.
The moves follow similar drastic measures by other central
banks and governments, including a 330 billion-pound stimulus
package from the UK government earlier this week, to inject
liquidity into markets and stem an economic slowdown, which many
fear may have already pushed the global economy into a short
slump.
"We would not be surprised if the BoE's announcement
prepares the ground for more fiscal announcements soon,"
Citigroup's Christian Schulz wrote in a note.
"We expect further programmes to absorb households' income
losses due to the COVID-19 crisis and eventually also stimulus
and debt forgiveness for companies."
The announcement, however, failed to pull midcap stocks out
of their misery. The FTSE Mid 250 index dropped 1.4% for
its eleventh day of losses after Prime Minister Boris Johnson
enforced tougher measures to contain the virus.
"This (stimulus measures) will help at the margin,
particularly the fiscal spend, if they can find a way to get the
money to businesses and individuals," a fund manager at a UK-
based asset manager said.
"For confidence to meaningfully turn more positive, we need
to see the rate of infection slow in Western markets."
Shares in homebuilder Crest Nicholson slumped 30%
after it cancelled payment of its final dividend along with
financial forecasts for 2020.
Fashion retailer Joules Group and gambling software
maker Playtech also announced similar measures.
A leading ventilator manufacturer, Hamilton Medical, told
Reuters that Britain faces a "massive shortage" of the
ventilators that will be needed to treat critically ill patients
suffering from coronavirus.
Luxury brand Burberry Group warned that sales in
the final weeks of March would plunge by around 70% to 80%
compared to last year.
Pub operator Young & Co's Brewery Plc fell 5.2%
after it said that the closure of some or all of its pubs for at
least a short period was "imminent".
Next rose 5.3% after the clothing retailer said it
could sustain a hit from the coronavirus outbreak of more than 1
billion pounds ($1.2 billion) without exceeding its debt and
bank facilities.
(Reporting by Sruthi Shankar and Devik Jain in Bengaluru;
Editing by Bernard Orr, Saumyadeb Chakrabarty, Kirsten Donovan)
