BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - U.K. stocks rallied on Friday, with miners and energy companies leading the surge, after China's factory output rose for the first time this year in April, suggesting that the world's second-largest economy is slowly emerging from its coronavirus lockdown.
The benchmark FTSE 100 climbed 84 points, or 1.47 percent, to 5,826 after losing 2.8 percent the previous day.
Miners Anglo American, Antofagasta and Glencore soared 4-6 percent, while oil & gas company BP Plc rose 1.3 percent and Royal Dutch Shell advanced 2.6 percent.
Petrofac, a provider of oilfield services, dropped 1.6 percent after saying it expects the Covid-19 pandemic to result in delays in construction activity and tenders until 2021.
Telecoms group BT Group surged 7.3 percent on reports that it was in talks to sell a multi-billion-pound stake in its infrastructure arm Openreach.
Bookmaker William Hill jumped 8.3 percent. The company said covenants on a revolving credit facility have been waived for 2020 and reset for 2021.
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