FTSE 100 rises as HSBC, Rio Tinto jump

British shares rose on Tuesday, as a jump in HSBC's shares and encouraging production report from miner Rio Tinto lifted sentiment at a time when tighter coronavirus-led restrictions have raised concerns about the pace of an economic recovery.

The blue-chip FTSE 100 index was up 0.7% after two consecutive sessions of declines, while the mid-cap index gained 0.2%.

HSBC Holdings rose 3%, giving the biggest boost to the blue-chip index.

Miner Rio Tinto rose 1.4 after reporting a 2.4% rise in fourth-quarter iron ore shipments, helped by increased demand from China.

British firms called for another 7.6 billion pounds ($10.3 billion) of emergency government help, saying they cannot wait until finance minister Rishi Sunak's March budget to learn if they will get more pandemic support.

Shares of Experian Plc, the world's largest credit data firm, gained 1.2% after its third-quarter revenue growth exceeded targets, helped by strong US mortgage volumes.