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(Alliance News) - The FTSE 100 surged on Tuesday, buoyed by miners and oil stocks after some better-than-expected manufacturing data from China as the country comes back online following its coronavirus-induced shutdown.
Meanwhile, the UK reported a record daily coronavirus toll of 381 on Tuesday, more than double the number of deaths posted in the previous 24 hours.
"As of 5pm (1600 GMT) on 30 March, of those hospitalised in the UK, 1,789 have sadly died," the health ministry said on its Twitter page, up from 1,408 on Monday.
The FTSE 100 index closed up 108.22 points, or 2.0%, at 5,671.96 on Tuesday. The FTSE 250 ended up 476.50 points, or 3.3%, at 15,101.13, and the AIM All-Share closed up 18.50 points, or 2.8%, at 682.29.
The Cboe UK 100 ended up 1.9% at 9,598.37, the Cboe UK 250 closed up 2.7% at 12,987.90, and the Cboe Small Companies ended up 0.5% at 8,070.36.
In European equities on Tuesday, the CAC 40 in Paris ended up 0.4%, while the DAX 30 in Frankfurt ended up 1.2%.
Among the risers in London were miners, with Anglo American ending up 5.9%, Antofagasta up 5.6% and Glencore up 4.0%.
This was after Chinese factory activity saw surprise growth in March as businesses grind back to work following a lengthy shutdown.
The purchasing managers' index came in well above expectations, hitting 52.0 for March, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. That is well above the 35.7 from the month before and beat forecasts of 44.8 in a Bloomberg survey. Anything above 50 is considered expansion.
The NBS said the number "reflects that over half of surveyed companies had improvements in their resumption of work and production from the month before". However it added that "it does not represent that our country's economic operations have returned to normal levels".
The non-manufacturing PMI came in at 52.3, also well above analyst predictions.
"The China data acted as a nice excuse to go bargain hunting for BP and Royal Dutch Shell shares," David Madden at CMC Markets added, with the Chinese figures also helping the oil market.
Brent oil was quoted at USD26.61 a barrel on Tuesday, sharply higher than USD22.09 late Monday. The North Sea benchmark fell to USD21.65 overnight - its lowest level in 18 years.
Shares in oil major BP closed up 6.4%, while Royal Dutch Shell 'A' shares closed up 7.1% and 'B' shares up 7.8%.
And Shell's rise on Tuesday was despite it warning it expects to take post-tax impairment charges in a range of USD400 million to USD800 million in the first quarter, following the recent slump in oil prices. The Anglo-Dutch firm said the impairment guidance was based on changes to its oil price outlook for 2020.
Earlier this month, Shell suspended its share buyback in light of the coronavirus outbreak, but pledged not to cut its dividend. However, the company said Tuesday that disruption from Covid-19 has been minimal so far.
Elsewhere in the commodity space, gold was quoted at USD1,609.09 an ounce at the London equities close Tuesday against USD1,619.47 at the close on Monday.
Stocks in New York were slightly higher at the London equities close, with the DJIA up 0.4%, the S&P 500 index up 0.3%, and the Nasdaq Composite up 0.8%.
The US Federal Reserve announced a new facility that will allow foreign central banks to temporarily swap holdings of US Treasury debt for US dollars.
Amid the cash crunch and increased demand for dollars caused by the uncertainty around the coronavirus pandemic, the Fed's "FIMA repo facility" will allow central banks to exchange US Treasury debt for cash, rather than selling them for bargain prices.
The Fed slashed the benchmark interest rate to zero earlier this month, announced unlimited purchases of US Treasury debt and mortgage debt, massive increases in overnight lending to banks as well as lending to companies and municipalities.
"The dollar initially tumbled against its major trading partners following the announcement of the Fed's new short-term lending program for foreign central banks," commented Edward Moya at Oanda.
However, he added: " This new facility is another one of the laundry list of items that support a weaker dollar, but that probably won't happen until markets feel confident the worst is over with the coronavirus pandemic. The flight-to-safety should keep the dollar bid over the next few weeks."
The euro stood at USD1.0996 at the European equities close Tuesday, lower against USD1.1042 at the same time on Monday.
The pound was quoted at USD1.2435 at the London equities close Tuesday, higher compared to USD1.2404 at the close on Monday.
Against the yen, the dollar was trading at JPY107.63 compared to JPY107.93 late Monday.
Back in London, Imperial Brands ended as the best blue-chip performer, up 12%. The tobacco firm said that it has seen no material impact on performance to date from Covid-19 pandemic, and current trading remains in-line with expectations.
"Our operations benefit from a diversified supply chain and factory footprint, which is prioritising the manufacture of major product lines to build contingency stocks. Our distribution business, Logista, which serves Italy, France and Spain has increased the levels of finished goods stock in its regional distribution hubs and continues to deliver product to retailers," the Davidoff cigarette maker said.
The FTSE 100-listed company also said that it has secured a new EUR3.5 billion multi-currency revolving credit facility from a syndicate of 20 banks.
Flutter Entertainment advanced 9.9% as it got approval for its proposed merger with peer Stars Group from the UK Competition & Markets Authority.
The UK regulator said that although both companies compete strongly, the presence of other competitors like bet365 and William Hill means the merger will not worsen the offering to people who choose to bet online.
FTSE 100-listed Flutter welcomed the phase one merger clearance, but said the merger is still subject to approval by both Flutter shareholders and Stars group shareholders at general meetings scheduled in April.
Smiths Group ended up 9.9% amid the delay of the separation of its Smiths Medical division.
Smiths Medical makes products such as catheters, thin medical tubes which can be used in surgical procedures. It was originally set to be demerged by June. However, due to the company making ventilators for the UK government, coupled with uncertainty created by Covid-19, Smiths has decided to delay the separation.
On recent trading, Smiths said continuing operations delivered underlying revenue growth of 3% for the six-month period to the end of January. Reported revenue increased 8%, including the acquisition of fluid management business United Flexible.
However, for the eight weeks to the end of March, the company recorded disruptions to trading amid the new coronavirus outbreak. Demand, as well as the company's supply chain and production have been hurt. All its manufacturing sites in China have now reopened and are operating at close to normal levels, Smiths noted.
Cruise operator Carnival rose 7.9% even as the firm suspended dividend payments and said it will raise USD6 billion in an effort to stay afloat amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
The travel company, which has been forced to cancel several voyages due to the virus outbreak, has launched a private offering for USD3 billion in first priority senior secured notes and USD1.75 billion in senior convertible notes, Both the notes are due 2023. The FTSE 100-listed cruise ship operator also plans to raise a further USD1.25 billion through public offering of its shares.
In the UK corporate calendar on Wednesday, there are trading statements from engineering services firm Renew Holdings and tile retailer Topps Tiles. There are also full-year results from pharmaceutical company Futura Medical.
In the economic calendar for Wednesday, the British Retail Consortium's shop price index is at 0001 BST and China's Caixin manufacturing PMI at 0245 BST. German retail sales are at 0700 BST.
Later in the morning, there are manufacturing PMIs from Germany, the eurozone and the UK at 0855 BST, 0900 BST and 0930 BST respectively. Eurozone unemployment is at 1000 BST.
In the afternoon is US ADP employment change, at 1315 BST, a precursor to Friday's monthly jobs report. A US Markit manufacturing PMI is at 1445 BST and the ISM PMI at 1500 BST.
By Lucy Heming; lucyheming@alliancenews.com
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