London open: Stocks rise after Thursday's selloff

London stocks rose in early trade on Friday following heavy losses in the previous session on the back of worries about the Ukraine crisis, and taking their cue from an upbeat close on Wall Street.

At 0850 GMT, the FTSE 100 was up 1.2% at 7,295.13, having tumbled 3.9% on Thursday.

Danske Bank said: "Price action has been volatile and choppy since the launch of the Russian attack. While the first reaction delivered a heavy blow to risky assets excluding commodity prices a relief rally followed late in the US session possibly as Western sanctions proved less harsh than feared. Volatility is set to remain very high in today's session."

In equity markets, Russian steelmaker Evraz jumped to the top of the FTSE 100, having tumbled a day earlier amid worries about the impact of the Ukraine crisis. The company's full-year results, released earlier, showed that net profit rose to $3.1bn from $858m. Evraz also warned in the results that the "worsening situation related to Ukraine has further increased the economic uncertainty and the risk of the imposition of sanctions".

Anglo-Russian precious metals miner Polymetal was also up after heavy losses on Thursday.

Educational publisher Pearson gained after saying it will launch a £350m share buyback and that demand for assessment and qualification services allowed it to hit its 2021 targets.

IAG flew higher after the British Airways and Iberia owner said it expects to return to profit in the second quarter despite a "significant" operating loss in the first quarter due to the Omicron Covid variant, seasonal slowdown and capacity rebuilding costs. The company, which also owns Aer Lingus and Iberia, narrowed 2021 losses to €2.7bn from €7.4bn and said it expected it would hit 85% of pre-pandemic 2019 capacity during the current year.

Rightmove was higher after the online property portal posted a jump in full-year profit and sounded an upbeat note on the outlook.

Budget airlines Wizz and easyJet were trading higher following heavy losses in the previous session.

On the downside, Jupiter Fund Management fell after it reported a rise in full-year profits as assets under management ticked higher, but said net outflows continued.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,295.13 1.22%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 20,442.86 0.93%
techMARK (TASX) 4,252.52 0.77%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Evraz (EVR) 190.70p 11.36%
Polymetal International (POLY) 736.20p 7.88%
Pearson (PSON) 638.40p 6.40%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 534.40p 3.81%
BAE Systems (BA.) 653.20p 3.39%
Rightmove (RMV) 635.40p 3.22%
Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 1,883.50p 2.73%
Mondi (MNDI) 1,727.50p 2.58%
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 47.73p 2.56%
Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,951.00p 2.47%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Barratt Developments (BDEV) 556.40p -0.29%
London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) 6,366.00p -0.25%
Abrdn (ABDN) 202.40p -0.20%
Avast (AVST) 621.20p -0.13%
Relx plc (REL) 2,202.00p -0.09%
Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 3,754.00p -0.08%
Experian (EXPN) 2,796.00p -0.07%
DCC (CDI) (DCC) 5,694.00p 0.04%
Electrocomponents (ECM) 955.00p 0.05%
Persimmon (PSN) 2,276.00p 0.09%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Edinburgh Worldwide Inv Trust (EWI) 225.00p 7.66%
Wizz Air Holdings (WIZZ) 3,395.00p 6.43%
easyJet (EZJ) 621.40p 4.05%
BB Healthcare Trust (Red) (BBH) 160.60p 4.02%
Mitie Group (MTO) 52.40p 3.97%
Petropavlovsk (POG) 10.36p 3.60%
Investec (INVP) 407.50p 3.56%
Impax Environmental Markets (IEM) 409.50p 3.41%
Syncona Limited NPV (SYNC) 180.00p 3.21%
Darktrace (DARK) 368.40p 3.19%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Jupiter Fund Management (JUP) 194.40p -4.52%
Inchcape (INCH) 702.50p -2.50%
Energean (ENOG) 987.50p -1.74%
FDM Group (Holdings) (FDM) 839.00p -1.64%
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 98.50p -1.40%
Vivo Energy (VVO) 133.00p -1.34%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 114.20p -1.30%
Homeserve (HSV) 687.50p -1.08%
Molten Ventures (GROW) 644.00p -0.92%
Capricorn Energy (CNE) 215.40p -0.83%