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* FTSE 100 jumps 2.9%, FTSE 250 climbs 2.2%
* Wall St jumps on retail sales surge, hopes of $1 trln
stimulus
* BoE decision on asset purchase eyed later in the week
* Cineworld jumps on plans to reopen all theatres by July
(Updates to close, adds comment)
June 16 (Reuters) - UK shares posted their best session in a
month on Tuesday as hopes of more global stimulus and a record
rise in U.S. retail sales eased worries that recovery from a
pandemic-induced slump would take a long time.
British blue-chips .FTSE rose 2.9% as expectations of
further stimulus from the Bank of England and a report that
Washington was preparing a nearly $1 trillion infrastructure
proposal helped build on gains made after the U.S. Federal
Reserve's move to expand its corporate bonds purchases. .N
"Central banks everywhere are doing what they can to manage
economic catastrophe through liquidity infusion," said Keith
Temperton, a trader at Tavira Securities. "Whenever this happens
it gives confidence to the markets that everything will be okay,
leading to an immediate boost."
Consumer staples led gains .FTNMX2350 .FTNMX3530
.FTNMX3780 . Banks .FTNMX8350 followed, even though Britain's
financial sector regulator told lenders to brace for a pile-up
of debt as businesses are likely to default on repayments.
AstraZeneca Plc AZN.L rose 2.8% after its chief executive
said the drugmaker's potential coronavirus vaccine was likely to
protect against COVID-19 for about a year. The mid-cap FTSE 250 index .FTMC rose 2.2%. Cinema
operator Cineworld Group Plc CINE.L climbed 1% after saying it
plans to reopen all its theatres by July, while baker Greggs
GRG.L jumped 5.2% after confirming plans to reopen 800 shops
on June 18. Data showing U.S. retail in May rose dramatically chimed in
with UK data showing that the jobless rate had unexpectedly held
at 3.9% over the three months to April, albeit largely due to
the government's huge job retention scheme. Payrolls shrank by
more than 600,000. "We shouldn't extrapolate from today's report that we are
imminently heading back to 'normality'," said ING chief
international economist James Knightley, pointing to jumps in
the number of COVID-19 cases in Beijing and the United States.