By Aude Lagorce, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- U.K. stocks rose on Thursday, helped by
a rally in the commodities sector, as investors held their breath
ahead of a European Central Bank meeting that could see it take new
steps to halt sovereign-debt contagion in the euro zone.
The FTSE 100 index gained 0.9% to 5,690.22 in morning trading.
The index snapped a three-day losing streak to close up 2.1% on
Wednesday.
"After yesterday's strong performance the market is still
hopeful that we're going to get some news from the European Central
Bank on their plans to stop the sovereign-debt crisis," said
Richard Hunter, head of U.K. equities at Hargreaves Lansdown.
He added that mining and financial shares have gotten a bit of a
lift recently from the hope of firmer action from European
authorities.
The mining sector, which is sensitive to growth prospects, was
the top performer on Thursday.
Shares of Rio Tinto PLC (RIO) advanced 2.4% and Antofagasta PLC gained 1.4%.
African Barrick Gold Plc rallied 3.1% after it said the initial
mineral resource at its Gokona and Nyabigena open pits in Tanzania
indicates potential.
A top gainer on the benchmark index was TUI Travel PLC , which
rose 6.7% after the leisure group reported an 11% increase in
annual operating profit and said it's made progress on its
restructuring.
In the financial sector, shares of Royal Bank of Scotland Group
(RBS) gained 1.5%. The U.K.'s Financial Services Authorities
Thursday said it won't take any enforcement action against the bank
or any individual linked to it following an 18-month investigation
into the circumstances that led to its bailout by taxpayers.
On the downside, shares of aerospace engine maker Rolls-Royce
Group PLC slipped 0.1% after Australian airline Qantas Airways Ltd.
said it can pursue legal action against the firm.
Qantas last month was forced to ground its entire Airbus A380
fleet, which is equipped with Rolls-Royce engines, after one of
them made an emergency landing in Singapore. The aircraft suffered
an engine failure shortly after takeoff. An inquiry has traced the
problem to a single component in the turbine area of the
Rolls-Royce engine.
Qantas said in a statement Thursday it is in talks with
Rolls-Royce over the "financial and operational" impacts of the
incident.
In the financial sector, Barclays PLC (BCS) slipped 0.7%. The
Financial Times newspaper reported that the bank will cut hundreds
of jobs in the U.K. after being hit by a slowdown in revenues.