Miners push FTSE back over 6,000
by Elaine Frei
In London on Thursday, the FTSE 100 again rose above the 6,000 level to close at 6,015.2, a gain of 0.9 percent that allowed the index to finish recouping the 100 points it lost earlier in the week. The FTSE 250 was also up on the day, gaining 0.4 percent to 9,855.1. Trading volume was at 3.2 billion shares.
Mining stocks played a big part in the day’s gains as Kazakhmys reported in its full-year earnings results that rising copper prices allowed its profits to rise by 53.2 percent, sending its shares up 9.3 percent on the day to £10.42. These results helped out the rest of the sector, with some miners finding record high share prices. Rio Tinto added 5.3 percent to close at a record £29.81. Xstrata also recorded a new high share prices of £18.92, a gain of 4.9 percent on the day. Antofagasta, also helped by rising copper prices, was up 5 percent to £21.60.
Mid-cap miners were also up. Randgold advanced by 7.4 percent to £10.44, while Aquarius Platinum gained 2.2 percent to 797½p. Vedanta Resources gained 7.1 percent to £13.76 had some saying that it might be picked up by the FTSE 100 in June.
Banks were up as well, as bid rumors continued to make the rounds. Alliance & Leicester added 2.3 percent to £12.17 on a report that Credit Agricole’s informal approach had been rejected as A&L looked for a higher bid. Spanish bank Banco Santander Central has also been said to be interested. Meanwhile, RBS gained 2.3 percent as well, to £18.95, as talk continued that it could soon attract a bid.
Among decliners on the day were the London Stock Exchange, which lost 6.8 percent when Nasdaq withdrew its bid for the exchange, saying that the LSE’s stock was overpriced in hopes of triggering a bidding war. Also down was William Morrison Supermarkets, losing 0.8 percent to 192½p on the news that the company’s chairman had sold 227,000 shares on 24 March, taking his stake in the company down to about 10.1 percent.
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