FTSE extends yesterday's gains

The FTSE 100 Index extended Monday’s gains today as higher commodity prices caused mining stocks to dominate the blue-chip risers board.

The Footsie bounced back yesterday after a survey signalled the first growth in the US services sector for more than a year.

This was enough to shake off jitters caused by Friday’s weak US jobs report and powered the top flight to 5098.9 by mid-morning today, after climbing another 74.5 points.

The rally for miners saw Kazakhmys climb 5% or 52p to 1054p, while Antofagasta added 31.5p to 778.5p and Anglo American lifted 75.5p to 2026.5p.

Rio Tinto moved up 79.5p to 2643.5p as it signed an investment agreement with the government of Mongolia for the development of a copper-gold complex.

Banks were also higher after Morgan Stanley lifted confidence in the sector yesterday by raising its ratings on a number of US banks.

In the UK, Royal Bank of Scotland added 1.1p to 49.6p, Lloyds Banking Group rose 1p to 96p and Barclays cheered 6.3p to 368.1p.

Shares in supermarket giant Tesco failed to benefit from the buoyant market, despite half-year underlying profits coming in slightly ahead of market expectations at £1.55bn (€1.67bn). UK sales growth, excluding petrol, of 2.7% was described by analysts as “sluggish” and resulted in shares falling before a modest recovery to stand 1.7p higher at 393.1p.

Sainsbury’s, which is due to issue a trading update tomorrow, lifted 3p to 325.6p.

Marks & Spencer supplier Northern Foods was the biggest faller in the FTSE 250 Index after it warned margins in its chilled foods division were under pressure. While the company said it remained on course to meet expectations for the year, shares in the Fox’s biscuits firm declined 5% or 3.35p to 67.9p.