Londons FTSE 100 lifted by mining sector rally
London equities took their cue from Wall Street’s rally on Friday, as the volatile mining and oil sectors made strong gains, while broker upgrades added to the momentum.
The FTSE 100 rose 1.7 per cent to 5,655.2 while the mid-cap FTSE 250 jumped 2.3 per cent to 9,017.9.
Kazakhmys traded 2.2 per cent higher to £10.28 as commodity prices firmed and after Merrill Lynch (NYSE: MER ) started coverage of the stock.
Xstrata (LSE: XTA.L ) rose 4.3 per cent to £18.93.
Banks were higher on the back of an upbeat broker comment from Merrill Lynch.
It upgraded the European banking sector from ”underweight” to ”neutral”, naming Northern Rock (LSE: NRK.L ) as its strong preference of the smaller UK banks.
Northern Rock climbed 3.8 per cent to £10.03½ while HBOS (LSE: HBOS.L) traded 3.1 per cent to the good at 964p.
