British stocks jump as mining shares track strong silver prices By Reuters

(Reuters) – British shares rose on Monday led by gains in mining stocks as silver prices jumped on strong retail demand, while fund supermarket Hargreaves Lansdown (LON:HRGV) jumped on upbeat earnings and fashion retailer ASOS (LON:ASOS) gained on a deal to buy rival brands.

The blue-chip FTSE 100 index gained 0.7%, recovering from its worst session in three months, with miners and construction stocks gaining most, while the mid-cap index added 0.4%.

Silver prices surged to a five-month high, as small-time investors piled in to the metal, the latest target of a retail-trading frenzy that has set financial markets on edge.

In company news, London-listed shares of Ryanair Holdings slid 0.7% after saying it may lose close to 1 billion euros ($1.21 billion) in its current financial year, by far its worst ever performance.

Online fashion retailer ASOS gained 2.1% after buying the Topshop, Topman, Miss Selfridge and HIIT brands from the administrators of Philip Green’s collapsed Arcadia group for 265 million pounds ($364 million).

Hargreaves Lansdown rose 1.1% after the company raised its dividend and posted a 10% jump in profit for the first half of its fiscal year.