FTSE 100 boosted by mining shares
The blue chip index opened up this morning, boosted by headline mining shares as investors adopted a ‘risk-on’ attitude.
Outside of the miners, insurer CPP Group topped the leaderboard in early trading, while brewer Fuller, Smith & Turner jumped more than four per cent.
Russian oil company Ruspetro soared 3.85 per cent in early deals, while platinum miner Aquarius Platinum was also up by the same amount. It announced yesterday it was to lend 2.9 per cent of its shares to a subsidiary.
Miner Vedanta added three per cent.
Beleaguered oil rig maker Lamprell increased 3.81 per cent since dropping 36 per cent on Wednesday after it issued its fourth profit warning since the spring. Yesterday it announced it was axing three executives to shore up the company’s reputation.
Premier Foods added 3.4 per cent on news that it has appointed a new chief operating officer.
Utility company Telecom Plus rose 2.92 per cent as investors were buoyed by its strong first-half results, released this morning.
At the other end of the spectrum, telecommunication firm KCom Group dropped 7.29 per cent. This morning it announced trading was in line with expectations, although its business services division was weaker than expected.
Emerging markets fund manager Ashmore sank 3.19 per cent as it announced this morning a contraction in its average revenue margin.
Elsewhere, construction firm WS Atkins dropped 2.61 per cent and retail payment network PayPoint fell 2.55 per cent.
UK banks were a mixed bag this morning. HSBC added 0.24 per cent, but RBS fell by 0.35 per cent, Barclays was up 0.61 per cent, while Lloyds Banking Group dropped 1.21 per cent.
In Asia, the Nikkei closed up 0.44 per cent, while the Dow Jones closed up 0.6 per cent.