adminseen continuing in the months to come.
The FTSE 100 was up 34,20 points, or 0,6 percent, at 5 904,34, having edged up 0,2 percent in the previous session.
“I think the commodities are being bought again and over the year, you’ll see the miners driving the FTSE higher – we are a mining index,” Joe Rundle, head of trading at ETX Capital, said.
Earlier in the week, Goldman Sachs made positive comments on the copper price, helping to support the mining sector, which ranks third in terms of weighting on the FTSE 100, behind banks and integrated oils.
“There’s still a lot of uncertainty over what’s going to happen to the eurozone . . . while gold is always going to be a flight to quality. Gold becomes a by-word for the commodities and when it drives up, speculators get involved in the other ones as well,” ETX’s Rundle said.
Greece remains a focus for investors, with the country battling to avoid a debt restructuring that could have a contagion effect further into the eurozone. Lonmin was the best off, up 2,5 percent, with Anglo American and Kazakhmys putting on 2,3 percent and 2 percent respectively.
Investors had a wedge of corporate earnings to digest yesterday, with Man Group among the highlights, up 2,4 percent as the hedge fund group’s full-year results beat expectations, with its assets up 3 percent to US$71 billion over the past two months.
“Assets rise and positive client wins show progress being made post Bluecrest disposal and GLG acquisition. Given the recent sell-off ahead of these numbers since the start of May we would see some buying on these numbers,” Atif Latif, director of trading at Guardian Stockbrokers, said.
Burberry shed 2,1 percent, retreating after a strong recent run in the share price, after posting full-year results which Investec Securities said were slightly better than its forecast. – Reuters.
, with the broker repeating its “buy” rating “for the sustainable growth story”.
On the second tier, Daily Mail & General Trust topped the fallers’ list, as the media group accompanied in-line first-half results with a cautious outlook statement, prompting both Panmure Gordon and Numis Securities to cut their target prices for the stock.
Back with the blue chips, upbeat broker sentiment helped home improvement retailer Kingfisher firm 1.8 percent, with Espirito Santo keeping its “buy” recommendation on the company, noting a confident management team at a sell-side ‘meet and greet’ event on Wednesday.
Investors were awaiting US preliminary first-quarter GDP, scheduled for release at 1230 GMT, for an indication of the strength of the global economy.
Expectations are that the US economy grew at a still sluggish 2,1 percent annual rate in the first quarter, according to a Reuters survey, rather than the 1,8 percent pace estimated last month.
US weekly jobless claims are also due at 1230 GMT.-Reuters
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