U.K. stocks were modestly higher on Friday ahead of Britain lifting all remaining lockdown restrictions in England from Monday.
The government today said there had been 36,800 new cases of the Delta variant in the week to July 14, compared to 54,268 new cases reported the previous week.
The benchmark FTSE 100 rose 25 points, or 0.4 percent, to 7,037 after declining 1.1 percent in the previous session.
Luxury group Burberry slumped 4 percent despite the company announcing that sales have returned to pre-pandemic levels.
Intercontinental Hotels Jumped 3.7 percent, EasyJet rallied 2.5 percent and British-Airways owner IAG climbed 3.4 percent after U.S. President Joe Biden said the United States is reviewing when it can lift the COVID-related travel ban for European citizens.
Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto was down about half a percent after reporting a 12 percent fall in quarterly iron ore shipments.
DS Smith, a packaging company, was losing 0.7 percent after it announced the proposed sale of its De Hoop paper mill in the Netherlands to De Jong Packaging for 50 million euros or about 43 million pounds in cash.
Market Analysis
FTSE 100 Rises Ahead Of Restrictions Lifting
2021-07-16 09:42:10
