By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch FTSE 100 headed to weekly advance

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- U.K. stocks rallied Friday, with mining companies among the biggest advancers, after the central bank of key metals buyer China cut interest rates.

The People's Bank of China unexpectedly and for the first time in two years cut lending rates. The move came amid concerns that the world's second-largest economy could miss its annual growth target of around 7.5%. Recent economic data has indicated slowing in the Chinese economy, with the key property sector suffering further declines in prices.

Investors sent U.K. mining stocks sharply higher after the PBOC move. Anglo American PLC jumped 5.5%, Rio Tinto PLC (RIO) leapt 5%, BHP Billiton PLC (BHP) surged 5.1% and Antofagasta PLC tacked on 4.3%. The basic materials group pushed up 4.5%, the best-performing sector on the FTSE 100 .

"The impact of China's move is a classic play of boosting global equities, commodities and their currencies, reinforcing our preferred play of shorting [the euro] and the pound versus the Canadian dollar," said Ashraf Laidi, chief global strategist at City Index, in a note Friday.

The FTSE 100 rose 1% to 6,748.07, extending its potential weekly rise to 1.4%. The index has advanced for fourth consecutive weeks.

Stocks had gained earlier in the session after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi signaled the ECB is set to expand its asset-purchase programs if inflation remains persistently low.

"We will continue to meet our responsibility -- we will do what we must to raise inflation and inflation expectations as fast as possible, as our price stability mandate requires of us," Draghi told a banking conference in Frankfurt Friday.

Other advancers on Friday included Tullow Oil PLC , whose shares rose 5.8%. The oil-exploration company's shares are up more than 6% for the week, reflecting speculation that OPEC may agree to cut output at its meeting next week, in an effort to stem the recent slide in oil prices.

Shares of Rolls-Royce Holdings PLC climbed 1.2% as the company said it won a $5 billion order from Delta Air Lines (DAL) to make engines and provide support for 50 new aircraft. Rolls-Royce's Trent XWB engines will power 25 Airbus A350s, and its Trent 7000 engines will power 25 Airbus A330neo aircraft.

On the FTSE 250 index, shares of Serco Group PLC dropped 7.4% after the outsourcing firm's rating at Credit Suisse was cut to underperform from neutral. After Serco last week unveiled "significant onerous contract provisions and the risk of more to come, we see huge uncertainty around the operational cash flows of the business," wrote analyst Karl Green in a Friday note.

In other developments, the populist U.K. Independence Party, or UKIP, won its second seat in the U.K. parliament on Thursday, a blow to Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservative Party ahead of the general election next year. UKIP is an advocate of the U.K.'s exit from the European Union. The pound (GBPUSD) on Friday was buying $1.5677, down from $1.5693 on Thursday.

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Our panel will be led by MarketWatch Columnist Matthew Lynn, a renowned financial journalist based in London and the author of "Bust: Greece, the euro and the Sovereign Debt Crisis." He'll be joined by Mark Hulbert, MarketWatch columnist and editor of the Hulbert Financial Digest.

This event is free, but RSVPs are required. It will be held Wednesday evening, Dec. 3, in London. For more information or to RSVP, send an email to marketwatchevent@wsj.com.

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