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* Vodafone jumps after keeping dividend
* Morrisons rises as sales get boost from lockdown
* Property developer Land Securities slumps on annual pretax
loss
* FTSE 100 up 0.9%, FTSE 250 down 0.6%
(Adds comments, updates to close)
By Shreyashi Sanyal
May 12 (Reuters) - London's FTSE 100 closed higher for the
fifth straight session on Tuesday after strong earnings from
Vodafone and Morrisons helped outweigh fears of a potential
flare-up of COVID-19 cases as countries slowly reopen parts of
their economies.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 was up 0.9% at the closing
bell, with Vodafone, the world's second largest mobile
operator, jumping 8.7% to the top of the index after it
maintained its dividend, bucking a corporate trend to cut or
scrap payouts, and met full-year profit expectations.
Supermarket group Morrisons added 3.4% after
reporting a boost to sales in its latest quarter from the
coronavirus lockdown, and said costs related to the pandemic
should be broadly offset by the government's business rates
relief.
A slide in sterling on continued confusion over the UK
government's plans to ease lockdown measures also supported the
FTSE 100.
Home improvement group Kingfisher said underlying
sales had turned positive in the first week of May as more of
its stores re-opened from lockdowns.
Its shares jumped 9.6%, leading gains on the domestically
focussed FTSE 250, but were unable to offset a drag from
real estate stocks. Overall the mid-cap index fell
0.6%.
After rallying in April on historic global stimulus and
hopes of a pick-up in business activity, the FTSE 100 has
struggled to build on its gains in May as countries such as
Germany and South Korea report a surge in COVID-19 infections
after easing lockdowns.
In the UK, which has one of the world's highest official
COVID-19 death tolls, Prime Minister Boris Johnson set out a
cautious reopening plan that includes a staged easing of
restrictions and a 14-day quarantine for most international
arrivals.
"The rally has been driven by the large-scale stimulus
packages, but investors can't ignore the economic reality
indefinitely," said Daniel Grosvenor, director of equity
strategy at Oxford Economics.
With economists forecasting the deepest UK recession in 300
years in 2020, all eyes will now be on first-quarter GDP figures
for the country due on Wednesday.
"Everyone knows there's going to be some kind of contraction
in the first quarter," said Connor Campbell, financial analyst
at SpreadEx in London.
"It will be interesting to see whether UK investors are
acclimatized to really negative data, because these figures will
be shocking, but they wouldn't necessarily be surprising."
Asset manager Standard Life Aberdeen rose 3.9% after
reporting estimated total assets of 490 billion pounds ($602
billion) at end-April and saying it was making progress towards
its cost saving targets.
Property developer Land Securities slumped 12.7% to
the bottom of the FTSE 100 as it reported an annual pretax loss
of more than $1 billion.
($1 = 0.8137 pounds)
(Reporting by Shreyashi Sanyal, Devik Jain and Sagarika
Jaisinghani in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva and Jan
Harvey)
