By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- U.K. stocks marched toward a sixth
consecutive rise Thursday, riding higher along with other European
markets, after the European Central Bank said it's ready to unleash
more liquidity into the financial system.
The FTSE 100 climbed 0.9% to 6,787.22. Earlier, it briefly
pushed above 1% after ECB President Mario Draghi said the bank in
March will begin buying 60 billion euros ($69.8 billion) a month in
national and agency bonds through September 2016.
The oil and gas group was up more than 2%, pushed higher as oil
prices swung into positive territory. Oil producer BG Group PLC
surged 4%. Metals stocks also rose, with miner Glencore PLC jumping
4.5%.
Pressure has been growing on the ECB to launch more-aggressive
efforts to combat low inflation and encourage economic growth in
the eurozone, the U.K.'s biggest trading partner. In his press
conference, Draghi said economic risks remain to the downside, but
that inflation should pick up later this year.
On the FTSE 100, Royal Mail PLC shares jumped rose 3.3% after
the delivery company backed its view of 1% revenue growth for the
nine months ended Dec. 28, citing its performance over the
Christmas period.
Also higher, shares of RSA Insurance Group PLC were up 3.7%
following a ratings upgrade, to outperform from neutral, at Credit
Suisse.
Shares of Barclays PLC switched higher by 1.9%. They had been
lower earlier after the New York Attorney General's office on
Wednesday filed an amended complaint that the bank misled clients
about the way it ran its dark pool.
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