BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - U.K. stocks recovered from an early slide to turn higher on Thursday despite historic falls in purchasing managers' readings across Europe.
Closer home, the IHS Markit/CIPS Flash UK Composite Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) fell to a new record low of 12.9 in April from 36.0 in March.
The benchmark FTSE 100 was up 7 points at 5,777 after climbing 2.3 percent in the previous session.
Energy stocks were moving higher as oil prices rebounded on signs of production cuts. BP Plc rallied 2.3 percent and Royal Dutch Shell advanced 2.7 percent.
Tullow Oil jumped as much as 26 percent after it agreed to transfer its entire interests in Blocks 1, 1A, 2 and 3A in Uganda and the proposed East African Crude Oil Pipeline System to Total Uganda for cash consideration of $575 million plus potential contingent payments after first oil.
Mining giant Anglo American advanced 1.8 percent after reducing its FY20 capex guidance.
Telecom major Vodafone Group rose half a percent. The company said that it has successfully completed the placement of 41.7 million shares of Infrastructure Wireless Italiane S.p.A. at a price of 9.60 euros per share.
Just East edged up slightly while Takeaway.com tumbled 3.4 percent after the Competition and Markets Authority cleared the merger deal between the companies.
Devro, a manufacturer of collagen products for the food industry, rose over 1 percent. After reporting growth in edible collagen volumes, the company said its expectations for good progress in 2020 is unchanged, excluding any negative impact from Covid-19.
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