Footsie breaks 6000 mark in early trading

Mining stocks were in demand in London today after China agreed a deal to import Australian uranium for its nuclear power stations.

Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton, which have large reserves of uranium, were the main beneficiaries and investors were also attracted by strong metals prices.

With markets in the Far East posting bumper gains overnight, the FTSE 100 Index was able to follow suit and increase 41.7 points to 6006.3 by mid-morning.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei index jumped 1.6% following a survey showing that confidence in the state of Japan’s economy remained strong. This put the Nikkei at a five-year high, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong rose more than 250 points.

BHP Billiton was the strongest riser in London – up more than 4% or 46p to 1097.5p – as investors noted that the company owns the Olympic Dam in Australia. The mine contains the world’s largest known uranium reserves and is likely to become a key source of exports to China following today’s agreement.

BHP was tracked by Rio Tinto, which is Australia’s biggest exporter of uranium and rose 58p to 2980p to stand at an all-time high. Kazakhmys added to the strong run achieved following its results last week with shares in the copper miner up another 19p to 1097p, a gain of 2%.

Other risers included BG Group after buoyant demand for LNG put the gas exploration company on course for better-than-expected first quarter results. The blue-chip stock continued its recent rally to stand 2% higher, up 10p at 729.5p.

Northern Rock moved in the opposite direction as a trading update from the lender prompted investors to take profits, leading to a fall in its shares of 6p to 1178p.

Alliance & Leicester fell 8p to 1228p in sympathy, but Standard Chartered rose 37p to 1469p on weekend reports that Singaporean investment group Temasek had not ruled out a takeover bid after acquiring an 11.5% stake in the emerging markets bank last week.