London stocks gain, set for strong weekly gains on recovery hopes

UK stocks rose on Friday and were set for their third straight week of gains as optimism around a post-coronavirus economic recovery drove investors back to riskier assets, while housebuilder Taylor Wimpey jumped on a rebound in bookings. The firm added 3.2% and was among the top gainers on the FTSE 100 after it also said it had seen fewer cancellations in Britain's nine-week lockdown than in the same period last year.

The blue-chip FTSE 100 was up 0.9%, with travel stocks surging on a report saying https://www.ft.com/content/59fc4439-42b3-4de4-8276-5948d4514c4f some European countries were keen to adopt "transport corridors", which would let British holidaymakers visit Mediterranean resorts without quarantining for 14 days on their return. The mid-cap FTSE 250 was up 1.4%, with consumer discretionary, industrial and financial stocks among the biggest boosts.

Premier Oil surged 11.6% after saying it would issue discounted shares to activist hedge fund ARCM representing 8.91% of the company to pay for North Sea assets from BP.