Surging oil prices lifted UK's commodity-heavy FTSE 100 on Thursday, although the mood was fragile as Britain saw a record surge in deaths from the coronavirus pandemic that threatens to plunge the world economy into a deep recession.
Energy majors BP and Royal Dutch Shell gained 6% and 9%, respectively, as oil prices rallied on hopes of Saudi Arabia and Russia reaching a truce to end their oil price war.
IAG-owned British Airways rose 2.9% after a source told Reuters the company was in talks with its union about a plan to suspend around 32,000 staff in response to the outbreak.
The FTSE 100 gained 0.8% after a volatile start.
Despite recovering more than 12% from mid-March lows due to massive fiscal and monetary support, the blue-chip index remains 28% below its January peak amid growing evidence of the damage that the outbreak is wreaking on global growth.
Mortgage lender Nationwide said Britain's housing market is grinding to a halt after the government's shutdown of much of the economy. Through March 31, fatalities rose by 563 to a total of 2,352 in the country.
Gains on FTSE 100 were also limited by falls in shares of Standard Life Aberdeen, Phoenix Group Holdings and Smith & Nephew as they traded ex-dividend. Cruise operator Carnival Corp dropped 6.2% to the bottom of the index, as it raised $6.25 billion by issuing new debt and equity, borrowing at a high cost to weather the economic storm from the pandemic. The domestically focused midcaps fell 0.2%, with food producer Bakkavor Group sliding 8.7% after it revealed that the outbreak led to a cut in orders and suspended dividend.
Recruiter Hays slid 8% after it announced an emergency 200 million pound issue of shares as it sought to prop up its finances.