* FTSE 100 down 0.1%, FTSE 250 flat
* Hedge fund Pershing Square top gainer among midcaps
(Adds close)
By Shivani Kumaresan and Noor Zainab Hussain
March 10 (Reuters) - London's FTSE 100 gave up strong gains
from earlier on Tuesday to end marginally lower as optimism
around stimulus measures by major central banks was overshadowed
by heightened coronavirus fears in Sweden.
The commodity-heavy FTSE 100 was down 0.1%, after
falling to its lowest level since 2016 on Monday following a
crash in oil prices with the eruption of a price war between
Saudi Arabia and Russia.
Sweden's Public Health Agency on Tuesday raised the risk
level for local contagion of the new coronavirus to "very high"
from "moderate" and said it was seeing signs of community spread
in the Nordic country.
The announcement came minutes after the Stockholm region
reported a jump in confirmed coronavirus cases to 207, an
increase of 60 since yesterday.
Oil prices recouped some of their losses on Tuesday,
boosting shares of oil and gas and mining
companies. BP Plc and Royal Dutch Shell Plc
both gained about 3% after closing Monday with their
worst session on record.
"The market seems to be in sort of a holding pattern having
had the big sell-off," said Keith Temperton, a trader at Tavira
Securities. "We're looking for government responses and central
bank responses to try and ease the burden on financial markets."
Fears of a global recession pounded global equity markets on
Monday, with the Dow Jones Industrials Average losing a
record 2,000 points at one point. But sentiment brightened in
early Asia trade on growing hopes of a second interest rate cut
this month by the U.S. Federal Reserve.
Reuters also reported that the Japanese government was
gearing up to spend $4.1 billion more to counter the impact of
the virus, which has crushed supply chains and dented business
sentiment.
A survey showed the coronavirus crisis had reversed a recent
upturn in business optimism in Britain, with confidence falling
to a six-month low.
Investor attention now turns to a budget speech by finance
minister Rishi Sunak on Wednesday as they wait for clues on
additional stimulus.
Three of Britain's biggest banks, RBS, Lloyds
and Barclays, are offering repayment holidays
on loans to customers affected by the coronavirus outbreak as it
spreads in the country.
"It was reported that EU leaders will hold a conference call
today to discuss the health crisis, and there is some optimism
surrounding that too," CMC Markets analyst David Madden, said.
In company news, billionaire investor William Ackman's hedge
fund Pershing Square jumped 11.2%, topping the midcap
index, after his letter to shareholders said various hedges
"more than compensated" for recent market declines that hit
portfolio companies.
Ultra Electronics rose 8.5% after the engineering
firm said the epidemic had not impacted its business.
Informa, the world's largest exhibitions group,
jumped 6.4%, ending the session as the biggest gainer on the
bluechip index, after it reported upbeat annual revenue and
profit.
(Reporting by Noor Zainab Hussain, Shivani Kumaresan and Devik
Jain in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva/Mark Heinrich)
