Miner bounce-back injects some confidence into London market

The London market edged off the starting block today amid fragile investor sentiment on the economy.

Shares pulled up slightly from their two-month lows, helped by a bounce back for miners, after heavy falls for the sector yesterday.

The FTSE 100 Index rose 38.3 points to 4233.2 in mid-morning trade amid modest gains across European markets.

Wall Street was also predicted to open with a gentle rise for the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

Investors have seen their faith in the global prospects for economic recovery waver recently and this looks set to continue ahead of this week’s meeting of the G8 leaders in Italy.

Oil prices have fallen back from last week’s high of $73 a barrel to less than $64 as confidence is shaken.

In London an unexpected drop in manufacturing production in May was also seen to have dented optimism on the economy.

Miners were the main industry on the front foot, with companies crowding on to the risers board.

At the top of the group was Kazakhmys with an almost 6% gain – up 34.5p to 626p. This was closely followed by Antofagasta, Vedanta and Lonmin, which grew 26p to 592.5p, 55p to 1355p and 42p at 1102p respectively.

In corporate news, housebuilders topped the FTSE 250 chart after Persimmon issued a positive trading update.

The firm rose 17.25p to 380.5p – or more than 4% – after it said sales rates continued to improve and declines in prices also showed signs of stabilisation.

Barratt Developments followed with a gain of 7.25p to 156.5p and Bovis Homes added 16.5p to 406.25p.