London close: Equities close higher as mining shares rally

The FTSE 100 finished higher on Monday with mining shares leading the charge on a weaker dollar and an increase in commodity prices.

Anglo American, Glencore, BHP Billiton and Fresnillo were among the biggest risers as gold, silver and platinum prices rose.

Oil prices also gained as Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro said OPEC and non-OPEC producers were close to reaching an output deal. Meanwhile, disruptions in restarting crude exports in Libya relieved worries about the global supply glut.

Brent crude rose 2.1% to $46.78 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate increased 2.3% to $44.05 per barrel at 1627 BST.

Glencore also benefited from an upgrade to ‘outperform’ from ‘neutral’ by Credit Suisse. The bank said that since it downgraded the stock back in July, the sector has been range-bound, but the lift in coal prices gives it more confidence in the deleveraging and free cash flow generation of Glencore heading into 2017.

Polymetal International was up after saying its Viksha platinum mine is “both technically and financially viable” after a mineral resource estimate.

Elsewhere, supermarket retailer Wm Morrison was on the front foot after Deutsche Bank lifted its rating on the stock to ‘hold’ from ‘sell’ and upped the price target to 200p from 165p following the company’s better-than-expected first-half results last week.

On the downside, airline stocks easyJet and International Consolidated Airlines were on the back foot on an increase in oil prices and security worries following Sunday’s explosion in New York.

Mitie Group tumbled after it warned that full-year profits would be materially lower than expected due to a drop-off in higher margin contracts in the first-half and the cost of new efficiency programmes.

In economic data, Rightmove said UK house prices rose 0.7% on the month and 1.2% on the year in September to an average of £306,499.

Eurozone construction output rose 1.8% in July compared to a month earlier and increased 3.1% compared to the same month a year ago, Eurostat revealed.

The eurozone’s total current account surplus shrank to €8.4bn in July from €15.2bn in June, Eurostat said in a separate report.

In the US, a report showed sentiment among homebuilders in September improved to its highest level since October last year. The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo housing market index pushed up to 65 from 59 the month before, comfortably beating expectations for a reading of 60. This marked an 11-month high.

Meanwhile, traders are awaiting policy decisions from the Federal Reserve and the Bank of Japan on Wednesday.

“The respective decisions from the BoJ and FOMC will no doubt shape the look and feel of markets for weeks to come, yet realistically it is just the Japanese who stand any chance of raising rates on Wednesday,” said IG market analyst Joshua Mahony.

“Despite differing expectations, it makes sense that the BoJ will avoid anything too drastic with existing monetary stimulus leaving little room for manoeuvre.”

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 6,812.06 1.52%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 17,889.76 0.21%
techMARK (TASX) 3,516.70 0.63%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Glencore (GLEN) 196.50p 6.22%
Anglo American (AAL) 861.30p 5.76%
Tesco (TSCO) 176.40p 4.19%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 630.00p 3.77%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,022.50p 3.69%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 2,359.00p 3.49%
Fresnillo (FRES) 1,670.00p 3.34%
Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 246.50p 2.58%
Pearson (PSON) 801.00p 2.56%
HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 581.10p 2.54%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 415.80p -0.74%
TUI AG Reg Shs (DI) (TUI) 1,062.00p -0.47%
easyJet (EZJ) 1,070.00p -0.47%
AstraZeneca (AZN) 5,079.00p -0.31%
Informa (INF) 730.50p -0.14%
SABMiller (SAB) 4,439.00p -0.02%
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 185.90p 0.16%
Associated British Foods (ABF) 2,716.00p 0.18%
Royal Mail (RMG) 517.50p 0.19%
GKN (GKN) 316.10p 0.25%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Evraz (EVR) 147.10p 6.67%
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 142.90p 6.09%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 522.00p 5.39%
Hunting (HTG) 434.10p 3.30%
Acacia Mining (ACA) 488.20p 3.21%
Wood Group (John) (WG.) 717.00p 3.02%
Ascential (ASCL) 275.00p 2.73%
Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 818.00p 2.70%
Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 2,621.00p 2.66%
Cairn Energy (CNE) 185.70p 2.60%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Mitie Group (MTO) 191.30p -28.88%
Dairy Crest Group (DCG) 626.00p -6.29%
PayPoint (PAY) 997.50p -3.99%
JRP Group (JRP) 116.00p -3.41%
DFS Furniture (DFS) 265.50p -3.14%
Savills (SVS) 744.00p -2.68%
Supergroup (SGP) 1,452.00p -2.68%
CMC Markets (CMCX) 228.80p -2.64%
Greggs (GRG) 1,039.00p -2.53%
IP Group (IPO) 187.60p -2.49%