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London stocks rebounded from what was the worst session since the emergence of the omicron variant last month, driven by gains for resource stocks and some help from hospitality names after the U.K. government announced an aid plan.
The FTSE 100
UKX,
rose 1% to 7,276, following a near 1% drop on Monday, which was in step with a global market selloff. The pound
GBPUSD,
rose 0.1% against the dollar at $1.3235.
Shares of Wagamama owner The Restaurant Group
RTN,
surged 5%, while pub chain J D Wetherspoon
JDW,
climbed 2.9%, while brewer Mitchells & Butlers
MAB,
rose 2%.
Read: European gas futures surge at least 15% as Russia blamed for withholding gas deliveries
Those gains came after the U.K. offered grants worth 1 billion pounds ($1.3 billion) to help the hospitality industry confront the omicron variant of COVID-19. Local governments will get an extra 100 million pounds to support businesses.
While COVID-19 cases in the U.K. and elsewhere, markets were driven by some optimism after the administration of President Joe Biden announced measures to combat the virus, such as 500 million free rapid tests to be distributed to Americans.
Resource stocks rose on a reversal of Monday’s losses, with a 2% gain in U.S.
CL00,
and Brent oil prices
BRN00,
driving up energy names, such as heavily weighted BP
BP,
BP,
and Royal Dutch Shell
RDS.A,
RDSA,
by more than 2% each.
Mining stocks also helped prop up the main index, with shares of Glencore
GLEN,
and Rio Tinto
RIO,
RIO,
up more than 3% each.
