London stocks rose on Friday as a recovery in oil prices and moves by policymakers to limit the economic hit from the coronavirus helped them rebound from their worst selloff since the 1987 “Black Monday” crash a day earlier.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 .FTSE rose 3.2%, but was still on course to post its worst week since the global financial crisis in 2008.
Helping the slight move up on Friday were miners, supermarket chains and oil & gas producers.
“It was perhaps inevitable, given that the FTSE suffered its second worst session ever yesterday and it’s probably some people deciding to buy at those lows,” said Connor Campbell, analyst at financial spread better Spreadex.
Global equities were hammered on Thursday after U.S. President Donald Trump shocked investors with a move to restrict travel from Europe, with the ECB’s decision to hold off on interest rate cuts adding to panic about a liquidity crunch.