The UK blue-chip index hit a six-week high on the last full trading day before Christmas as findings from a number of Omicron studies lifted the market mood.
Initial findings from four separate Omicron studies were released on 22 December, two from the UK, one from South Africa, and another from Denmark. All offered an optimistic assessment of the latest Covid strain, agreeing that the severity of illness appears to be milder compared to previous variants, including Delta.
There was also the boost of data from an Oxford University laboratory study that said a three-dose course of the Covid vaccine it had developed with drugs giant AstraZeneca (AZN) is effective against the highly transmissible new strain.
At 12.30pm, the benchmark FTSE 100 is on the front foot, up 0.24% at 7,359.24, the highest the index has been since early November.
Airline stocks rose sharply through the morning session thanks to the much-needed injection of confidence that more travel restrictions will not be needed in the near-term.
British Airways parent International Consolidated Airlines (IAG) led the FTSE 100 leader board on Thursday, the shares rallying nearly 4% to 146.5p, continuing the bounce off 2021 lows of 125.8p on 15 December.
Aero-engine maker Rolls-Royce (RR.), which generates a lot of revenue from air miles flow by its engines, was also firmly ahead, adding more than 3% at 122p.
Airlines are also featured on the mid-caps leader board. Budget flyers Wizz Air (WIZZ) and EasyJet (EZJ), up more than 4% apiece at £44.10 and 559p respectively, are among the best-performing FTSE 250 stocks.
Holiday firms TUI (TUI) and Jet2 (JET2) also made gains. The latter is one of Shares top stock ideas for 2022, which subscribers can read here.
Sterling has picked up against the dollar, hitting a one month high as investors move away from the safe haven US currency and bet on a Bank of England rate rise early next year.
The pound is currently up 0.485% at $1.3414.
OTHER MARKET MOVERS
Paddy Power and Betfair-owner Flutter Entertainment (FLTR) firmed 2.5% to £115.80 as investors welcomed its £1.62 billion purchase of Sisal, Italy’s leading online gaming operator, from CVC Capital Partners.
The FTSE 100 gambling giant insisted the Sisal acquisition ‘fully aligns’ with its strategy of investing to build leadership positions in regulated markets globally and the deal, which should complete during the second quarter of 2022, is expected to enhance Flutter’s earnings in the first year post-completion.
Mining giant BHP (BHP) was marked down 0.4% to £21.75 despite receiving a C$17.78 million payment from Canada’s Noront Resources as part of a termination payment after the latter ended its ?agreement to support a BHP takeover offer.
Noront accepted a $616.9 million or C$1.10 takeover offer from Wyloo Metals after BHP decided against upping its $0.75 per share bid.
FTSE 250 infrastructure investor International Public Partnerships (INPP) inched 0.1% higher to 168.2p after agreeing to acquire a small portfolio of UK private public partnership investments from Amber Infrastructure for £3.1 million.
‘All the assets in this portfolio are now performing well with either no or minimal operational issues,’ said International Public Partnerships.
‘Overall, the portfolio is strongly yielding and delivers partially index-linked returns.’
Following on from yesterday’s announced disposal of Templars Square, Oxford, for £28 million, NewRiver REIT (NRR) nudged up 1.1% to 86.9 as it announced the completion of the disposal of Poole Retail Park in Dorset for £58 million.
AROUND THE MARKET
Elsewhere, esports and gaming solutions provider Gfinity (GFIN:AIM) gained 6.1% to 3.5p after extending its partnership with advertising technology platform Venatus for a third year.
The renewed agreement will allow Gfinity to accelerate its focus on driving the value per user across its websites under the Gfinity Digital Media brand.
‘Successful partnerships with gaming experts such as Venatus are helping the GDM to go from strength to strength,’ enthused Gfinity CEO John Clarke.
‘We look forward to finding new and innovative ways to authentically engage gamers, driving growth of owned and recurring revenue streams as we target ambitious expansion over the years to come.’
Molecular diagnostics minnow Yourgene Health (YGEN:AIM) was marked up 2.5% to 12.6p after winning a contract from the Department of Health & Social Care to provide laboratory capacity to support the government’s Covid-19 testing programme, which is set to run until the end of March 2022.
Eyewear frames designer Inspecs (SPEC:AIM) lost earlier modest gains to drift 0.4% lower at 364p on the acquisition of design and licensing outfit Ego Eyewear, whose licensed brands include the likes of Barbour and Liberty of London, in a deal which will further develop Inspecs’ brand portfolio and add to its Scandinavian offering.
And oil and gas engineering services business Plexus (POS:AIM) perked up 3.3% to 7.75p on the award of an order for a POS-GRIP surface production wellhead system from an unnamed North Sea operator.
