Buildings are seen in the Canary Wharf business district, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in London, Britain, January 27, 2021. REUTERS / Peter Cziborra / File Photo

Dec. 21 (Reuters) – UK stocks rebounded on Tuesday, driven by gains in commodities and travel stocks, although fears over increasing cases of the Omicron COVID-19 variant persisted as they approached Christmas holidays.

The blue chip FTSE 100 index (.FTSE) gained 1.0% at 8:05 am GMT, while the domestically focused mid-cap index (.FTMC) rose 0.9%.

Oil majors BP (BP.L) and Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) added nearly 1.4% each, following crude prices, while industrial metal miners (.FTNMX551020) gained 2.6 % helped by higher copper prices due to a weaker dollar and concerns over tight supply.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Monday he would tighten COVID-19 restrictions to slow the spread of Omicron if needed, after the Netherlands began a fourth lockdown and as other European countries consider restrictions of Christmas. Read more

UK business confidence began to feel the impact of the Omicron COVID-19 variant this month, alongside further upward pressure on prices and personnel costs, a survey has shown. Read more

The travel and leisure sector (.FTNMX405010) advanced 1% after declining 0.7% in the previous session.

Meanwhile, Schroders plc (SDR.L) gained 1.2% after saying it struck a deal to buy 75% of Greencoat Capital Holdings Limited for £ 358million ($ 473.17million). Read more

Reporting by Bansari Mayur Kamdar in Bangalore; Editing by Vinay Dwivedi

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