FTSE 100 surges as more countries across Europe ease lockdown restrictions

Headlines from the Proactive UK newsroom.

The FTSE 100 surged 143 points higher this morning to 5,943 as more countries across Europe started to ease their lockdown restrictions.

() has slammed its rivals for receiving state aid as its predicted a loss of over €200mln in the first quarter. The Irish budget airline forecast lower losses in the peak summer months as it gets back to flying again.

() will offer smartphones from Chinese supplier Oppo from this month across its European markets. The FTSE 100 group said the partnership agreement will enable it to “accelerate 5G adoption”.

Beleaguered shopping centre owner () wants “standstill arrangements” with creditors of its assets to give it time to see how the retail property market recovers from the coronavirus crisis. The Lakeside and Trafford Centre owner will seek relief until at least the end of 2021.

() has begun trialling and finalising its Cov-ID app for tracking coronavirus contact. It announced an operational prototype earlier this month.

() confirmed that its coronavirus COVID-19 Antibody Microarray machine is on-site at hVivo’s laboratory in east London and is undergoing testing. The machine will be fully operational in two weeks and can carry out 3,000 tests per day.

e-Therapeutics PLC () shares rose as the firm said it has begun experimental testing on the first set of compounds for the treatment of coronavirus (COVID-19) identified using its proprietary network-driven drug discovery (NDD) platform. The AIM-listed firm said the initial compound set will be tested by WuXi AppTec utilising its relevant cell-based assays.