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* FTSE 100 up 0.5%, FTSE 250 down 0.8%
* BP, Shell jump tracking soaring oil prices
* Recruiter Hays slides on emergency equity raise plan
* Ex-dividend stocks cap FTSE 100 gains
(Updates to market close)
By Sruthi Shankar and Devik Jain
April 2 (Reuters) - Oil prices roared back on Thursday,
pulling Britain's commodity-heavy FTSE 100 out of early losses
sparked by a record surge in U.S. weekly jobless claims.
The FTSE 100 closed up 0.5% after gaining as much as
1.5% in late afternoon trading, with energy stocks,
which have shed about a third in value this year, jumping 7.8%.
Major players BP and Royal Dutch Shell
gained 6% and 9%, respectively, after U.S. President Donald
Trump said he expects Russia and Saudi Arabia to announce a
major oil output cut, signalling willingness by both countries
to end their oil price war.
A 25% surge in oil prices dispelled gloom in markets after
data showed U.S. claims for unemployment benefits shot to a
record high of more than 6 million last week amid tighter
stay-at-home measures to curb the coronavirus pandemic.
"The doubling of jobless claims will fill investors with a
sense of unease about the outlook," said Seema Shah, chief
strategist at Principal Global Investors. "With lockdowns
becoming stricter and being extended, we should anticipate
further surges in jobless claims over the coming weeks."
In Britain, a survey conducted between March 9 and March 22
showed more than a quarter of UK companies reduced staff levels
in the short term.
IAG-owned British Airways struck a deal with its
union to suspend thousands of staff in one of the airline
industry's most dramatic moves. Separately, IAG cancelled its
final dividend.
The FTSE 100 concluded its worst quarterly performance since
1987 on Tuesday as the fast-spreading pandemic forced lockdown
in most parts of the world, bringing economic activity to a near
standstill.
Analysts are predicting a 21.9% decline in earnings for
companies listed on the pan-European STOXX 600 in the
second quarter, according to Refinitiv data.
Gains on FTSE 100 were also limited by falls in shares of
Standard Life Aberdeen, Phoenix Group Holdings
and Smith & Nephew as they traded ex-dividend.
Cruise operator Carnival Corp dropped 22.3% to the
bottom of the index, as it raised $6.25 billion by issuing new
debt and equity, borrowing at a high cost to weather the
economic storm from the pandemic.
The domestically focused midcaps fell 0.8%, with
food producer Bakkavor Group sliding 19.3% after it
revealed that the outbreak led to a cut in orders and suspended
dividend.
Recruiter Hays dropped 13.3% after it announced an
emergency 200 million-pound issue of shares as it sought to prop
up its finances.
(Reporting by Sruthi Shankar and Devik Jain in Bengaluru
Editing by Shounak Dasgupta and Matthew Lewis)
