UPDATE 1-British stocks climb as China's central bank steps in to calm jitters

UK shares surged more than 1% on Tuesday as China's central bank took steps to shore up the economy, helping to ease growing fears about the global impact of the coronavirus outbreak, while positive corporate reports from blue-chips added momentum.

The FTSE 100 soared 1.4%, with the main board dominated by BP, which rose 4% after increasing its dividend, and plumbing parts distributor Ferguson up 6% as it mulls a listing of its shares in the U.S. The FTSE 250 was also tracking Asian stock markets higher, adding 1.2%. Both British benchmark indexes were set for their best day since mid-December.

China's central bank has injected 1.7 trillion yuan through reverse repos into its market this week, amid the fast-spreading epidemic that has killed more than 420 people. "Support from the PBOC (People's Bank of China) is helping stabilize things, whilst there does not yet appear to be a serious escalation in the rate of new cases in China," Markets.com analyst Neil Wilson said.

"Tentative signs of a plateauing in new cases will be supportive of risk." Though worries over the fallout from the coronavirus epidemic linger, markets are staging a comeback following a sharp sell-off last week, with generally upbeat corporate earnings and economic data soothing some nerves.

Analysts at BlackRock said they expect these factors to support further global growth this year, though the unknown magnitude and duration of the outbreak poses downside risks. Shares of Glencore jumped 4.2% to lend further support to the main index, as the miner maintained its 2020 production targets.

NMC Health climbed 8.3% to top the blue-chip bourse after tumbling nearly 20% on Monday, following the move to reassure investors that it's trading for 2019 was in line with expectations. Its stock has shed more than half its value since December when it came under attack from U.S. short-seller Muddy Waters.

Online payments firm Finablr also snapped a four-day losing run and advanced 5%. Both Finablr and NMC share the same founder. IT firm Micro Focus slid 13% to a near two-year low and underperformed the midcaps after reporting lower annual results.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)