BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - U.K. stocks rose on Monday as signs of economic recovery in China and Japan coupled with hopes of a Covid-19 vaccine helped investors shrug off worries about rising coronavirus cases and new lockdowns.
Britain will be the first country to run final stage trials of an experimental coronavirus vaccine being developed by the pharmaceutical company Janssen, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson.
The Oxford Covid vaccine and another one being developed by U.S. biotech company Novavax are already undergoing large clinical trials in British patients.
The benchmark FTSE 100 was up 47 points, or 0.7 percent, at 6,363 after declining 0.4 percent on Friday.
Vodafone Group shares surged 3.4 percent. After a 'resilient' first-half, the mobile phone operator said it was increasingly confident about its full-year performance. The company maintained its dividend and reiterated its free cash flow and EBITDA guidance.
Diversified engineering company Smiths Group rallied 2.5 percent after saying it expects to meet market views for the full year.
Security services firm G4S edged up slightly. The company said its Board believes that the Group's Retail Cash Solutions business represents exceptional unrecognized value within G4S.
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