Ferrexpo leads miners higher in London

Equities markets in Europe were higher Monday on new data showing that manufacturing was up in the United States, the UK and China in July.

The Institute for Supply Management reported its factory index at 48.9 in July, more of an advance than expected after being at 44.8 in June.

The FTSE 100 was up 1.61 percent to 4,682.46 in London, while the FTSE 250 added 1.98 percent to 8,158.16.

Ferrexpo (LSE: FXPO) led the mining sector higher as it added 12.68 percent on the 250, while over on the 100, three of the five top gainers were from the sector, where Kazakhmys (LSE: KAZ) was up 8.76 percent, Eurasian Natural Resources (LSE: ENRC) was 7.12 percent higher and Xstrata (LSE: XTA) gained 7.09 percent.

The Eurofirst 300 was up 1.43 percent to 942.02 while the IBEX added 0.42 percent to 10,901, the CAC-40 was 1.5 percent higher to 3,477.8 and the Dax gained 1.78 percent to 5,426.85.

Most markets in the Asia-Pacific region were higher on the session.

In Tokyo the Nikkei 225 was down 0.04 percent to 10,352.47 but the Topix index added 0.77 percent to 957.56 in its 12th consecutive gaining session, while the Mothers market was up 0.32 percent to 464.86.

In Australia the S&P/ASX200 was up 0.46 percent to 4,263.4 and the Sydney Ordinaries added 0.49 percent to 4,270.5, while the Kospi was also 0.49 percent higher to 1,564.98 in South Korea.

The Straits Times Index added 0.84 percent to 2,681.64, the Hang Seng was up 1.14 percent to 20,807.26, the Shanghai Composite was 1.48 percent higher to 3,462.59, and the Sensex gained 1.62 percent to 15,924.23.

In Taiwan, on the other hand, the Taiex was 0.3 percent lower to 7,056.71.

New York markets were higher in early afternoon trade, with gains coming on the good news about manufacturing.

At just past 1 p.m. in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 1.1 percent to 9.272.13 while the Nasdaq Composite had added 1.2 percent to 2,002.22 and the S&P 500 was 1.4 percent higher to 1,001.26.

Crude oil and metals prices saw gains on the session in New York and London, while grains prices remained little changed in Chicago.

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