British stocks jump as mining shares track strong silver prices

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.