FTSE back on front foot

London’s FTSE 100 Index was on the front foot today as traders dusted themselves down after yesterday’s heavy fall.

The Footsie slumped 2.6% yesterday after a raft of poor corporate results and disappointment at a 0.25% Bank of England rate cut combined to depress stocks.

But a cheerier mood returned to the market today after a strong finish on Wall Street, leaving the benchmark index 30.3 points ahead at 5754.4 by mid-morning.

Heavily-weighted miners were among the big gainers after higher copper prices buoyed the sector. Kazakhmys was up more than 4%, or 51p to 1239p, while Antofagasta was up 26p to 706p.

Anglo American was 86p higher at 2966p after its 45%-owned diamond producer De Beers reported a 14% hike in underlying earnings.

Catering giant Compass also made good progress after it reported a strong first quarter and operating profits “well ahead” of the previous year. Shares were up more than 4%, or 14p, to 327.75p.

Oil and gas explorer BG Group gained 28p to 1146p after brokers at UBS upgraded the stock following well-received results yesterday.

Pharmaceutical firms were prominent among the Footsie’s fallers. GlaxoSmithKline fell a further 37p to 1041p after yesterday warning of lower earnings this year, while Shire was off 8p to 948p after a downgrade from Lehman Brothers. AstraZeneca was pulled down 35p to 1944p.

B&Q owner Kingfisher also lost ground after UBS cut this year’s pre-tax profits forecast from £415 million to £370 million. Shares were off 3.5p to 132.4p.

In the FTSE 250, waste collection firm Biffa soared more than 11%, or 39p, to 367p after recommending a private equity takeover. Shares surged past the 350p offer price as the company said other parties remained interested.

Bisto gravy granules and Hovis bread owner Premier Foods was the biggest faller in the second tier, losing more than 18% after a downgrade from broker Shore Capital. The stock was down 21.75p to 98.25p.