By Emily Horton
AFP/Getty Images
London’s main bourse registered its best daily gain in about eight months on Friday, with major oil companies and mining stocks driving gains. /zigman2/quotes/205228367/delayed UK:CNA -0.25%
What did markets do?
The U.K.’s FTSE 100 /zigman2/quotes/210598409/delayed UK:UKX -0.55% rose in line with other European markets, with most well over 1%. The index advanced 2.2% to 6,733.97, after finishing down 1.5% on Thursday. In a shortened, but volatile, week of trade. For the week, the FTSE 100 climbed by 0.2%.
The pound /zigman2/quotes/210561263/realtime/sampled GBPUSD +0.3251% climbed to $1.2691 from $1.2643 late Thursday in New York.
What is driving the markets?
Despite a wild week of trading in the U.S., equities there managed to rebound Thursday, with gains set to continue into Friday’s session. The Dow Jones Industrial Average /zigman2/quotes/210598065/realtime DJIA +0.68% erased a sharp loss on Thursday that knocked 611 points, or 2.7%, off the blue-chip gauge at one point.
But investors remain wary after Wall Street’s recent oscillations in stocks, with Asian markets managing only cautious gains Friday.
An earlier gain Friday in oil prices also helped push heavily weighed energy companies higher.
What stocks are active?
Engineer Melrose Industries PLC /zigman2/quotes/210306391/delayed UK:MRO +1.49% jumped 4.1%, energy company Centrica PLC /zigman2/quotes/205228367/delayed UK:CNA -0.25% gained 3.4% and oil-services group John Wood finished the session with a 4.3% gain. BP PLC /zigman2/quotes/207305210/composite BP +0.61% advanced 3.5%.
Mining stocks also rose, with Anglo American PLC /zigman2/quotes/201381512/delayed UK:AAL +0.68% up 2.3% and shares of Rio Tinto /zigman2/quotes/208934945/delayed UK:RIO +0.66% /zigman2/quotes/202627887/composite RIO +2.44% climbing 1.4%.
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