While that raised concerns about the state of the world’s biggest economy, it also cast doubts on whether the U.S. Federal Reserve would raise interest rates by the end of 2016, and the prospect of a delay soothed some investor worries..
“With the prospect of the Fed hiking rates in June now firmly off the table, the markets are being reassured that the benign interest rate environment won’t be changing any time soon,” said MB Capital trading director Marcus Bullus.
The choppy market conditions lifted the price of gold, which is often favoured as a safe-haven asset.
This in turn boosted the shares of miners Randgold and Fresnillo, which rose 6.6 percent and 6.2 percent respectively.http://uk.reuters.com/article/britain-stocks-idUKL5N1834CE