London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.5 per cent after opening on Thursday, buoyed by hopes of a swifter economic rebound.
Mining stocks, including Rio Tinto, Anglo American and BHP, were among the biggest gainers. Fashion retailer Next rose 4.2 per cent, even after it reported a halving in annual pretax profit after stores were ordered to close during the pandemic.
The index of leading shares recovered some of the 0.9 per cent losses in Wednesday’s trading session, which saw food delivery company Deliveroo - which is not part of the FTSE 100 - plunge massively on its stock market debut.
All eyes were on Deliveroo’s stock, which opened well below the initial public offering price, falling as low as 271 pence. The company had priced its IPO at 390 pence per share, giving it a valuation of £7.6bn, less than initially expected.
After paring some of its losses, Deliveroo fell again after markets opened on Thursday.
Asian stock markets followed Wall Street higher big tech rallied and as President Joe Biden announced a multi-trillion-dollar infrastructure investment plan.
The Indian markets opened higher on Thursday with the BSE Sensex opening 0.8 per cent up, with a gain of over 400 points trading over 49,910 by lunchtime, while Nifty started with a gain of over 100 points.
The Sensex slumped 627 points yesterday at 49,509 while the Nifty fell 154 points to settle at 14,690.
