FTSE 100 Rises On Stimulus Hopes

U.K. stocks rose notably on Wednesday amid bets of domestic stimulus after data showed Britain's economy shrank by a fifth in the last quarter.

The U.K economy contracted for the second straight time in the second quarter amid the coronavirus pandemic although there was some pick up in June after government relaxed restrictions on movement, data from the Office for National Statistics showed.

Gross domestic product contracted by 20.4 percent sequentially in the second quarter, following a 2.2 percent drop in the first quarter. Economists had forecast a quarterly fall of 20.5 percent.

The latest fall was the biggest contraction since the records began in 1955. On a yearly basis, GDP plunged 21.7 percent in the second quarter but smaller than the economists' forecast of 22.4 percent.

The benchmark FTSE 100 climbed 54 points, or 0.88 percent, to 6,208 after rising 1.7 percent on Tuesday.

Food-ordering firm Just Eat Takeaway.com NV rose over 2 percent after reporting higher revenue and underlying profit for the first half of 2020, benefiting from continuing tailwinds.

Online fashion retailer ASOS surged 5 percent after upgrading sales and profit outlook.

Infrastructure group Balfour Beatty tumbled 3.4 percent after it made a £26m pre-tax loss in the first half of 2020.