* FTSE 100 up 0.4 pct
* FTSE 250 up 0.6 pct
* Oil majors, financials lead gains
* TUI jumps on analyst rating upgrade
* Anglo American, CRH fall on ex-dividend trading
* Just Group tanks after equity raising plans
* Marshalls hits life high on upbeat results (Updates with closing prices)By Shashwat Awasthi and Muvija MMarch 14 (Reuters) - UK shares bagged another session ofgains as financials cheered British lawmakers' rejection of adisruptive no-deal Brexit and oil majors rose on higher crudeprices, but mid-cap retirement services specialist Just Groupslumped on plans to raise funds.
The FTSE 100 was 0.4 percent higher, marking itsfourth consecutive session of rises and placing it on course forweekly gain after ending three weeks in the red.
The domestically-focussed FTSE 250 , more exposed tooutcomes of Brexit proceedings, rose 0.6 percent.Wednesday's parliamentary vote paved the way for another oneon Thursday that could delay Britain's exit from the EuropeanUnion until at least the end of June. But a vote in favour of postponing the leaving date stilldoes not guarantee that Brexit will be delayed, as it wouldrequire unanimous approval from EU members, while the EuropeanCommission has stressed that there would need to be a goodreason to justify a delay.
That did not stop financials from leading the charge on themain index with Lloyds and state-owned Royal Bank ofScotland adding 2 percent.
"The good news is that no-deal is off the table. The badnews is there isn't a table," said Raymond James analyst ChrisBailey."A bit more time is typically good but ultimatelycredibility will wither as we cannot kick the can down the roadforever. But in this game of poker I guess it is all aboutforcing people to bend their views a bit more."A rating upgrade by Morgan Stanley pushed the London-listedshares of travel group TUI by 4 percent, while AngloAmerican and building materials group CRH fell3.6 percent and 1.4 percent, respectively, as they tradedex-dividend.On the midcaps, landscaping products supplier Marshalls shot up by 7.1 percent to a record high as resultsshowed it managed to increase profits despite Brexituncertainties.
Cineworld added 4 percent as its results benefitedfrom a string of blockbuster releases last year including actionmovies "Black Panther" and "Avengers: Infinity War" and"Bohemian Rhapsody".The cinema operator touched a five-month high as it alsohiked the cost savings target from its Regal Entertainmenttakeover, trumpeting the success of the integration. Dragging on the index was Just Group that slipped12.2 percent on its worst day in almost three years afterannouncing plans for a share placement and debt offering due tochanges in capital requirement rules. CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson summed up that the UKmarkets have been held back by the Brexit process and anythingthat extends the decision would probably be the worst possibleoption because ultimately it would drag the uncertainty furtherout. (Reporting by Shashwat Awasthi and Muvija M in Bengaluru;Editing by Toby Chopra)
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