London close: FTSE closes higher as mining stocks rise

The FTSE closed in positive territory on Monday, boosted by a rally in mining stocks despite weak Chinese data and a decline in oil prices.

China’s industrial output growth slowed to 5.4% year-on-year between January and February, missing analysts' estimates of 5.6% after an increase of 5.9% the prior month.

Retail sales growth in China also cooled to 10.2% on an annual basis during the period, falling short of forecasts for a 10.8% rise after a 11.1% gain the previous month.

In contrast, the country’s fixed-asset investment growth accelerated to 10.2% year-on-year, beating forecasts of 9.5% and compared with 10% the prior period.

Meanwhile, oil prices slumped even as OPEC soothed concerns about an oversupplied market by saying crude production fell in February. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries’ output fell about 175,000 barrels a day last month to 32.28 million barrels on lower output from Iraq, Nigeria and the United Arab Emirates, the cartel said in its monthly market report.

Iran's confirmation that it intends to up production, saw Brent crude drop 3.0% to $39.21 per barrel by 1619 GMT, with West Texas Intermediate sliding 4.4% to $36.86 per barrel.

In a busy week for central banks, the Bank of Japan has started its two-day policy meeting with an announcement on its latest measures due on Tuesday.

There was also strong data from Japan on Monday, revealing core machine orders rose 15% January from a month earlier, compared to December’s 4.2% increase and analysts’ estimates of 1.9%.

The Federal Reserve and the Bank of England are also due to announce their policy decisions on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively.

The UK Budget on Wednesday is also set to be in focus.

On the corporate front, Anglo American was a standout riser after news its boss Mark Cutifani took home a smaller pay cheque in 2015. Fellow miner Glencore was also topping the FTSE on the back of a copper price bounce, traders said.

Insurers were the biggest fallers, including Aviva, Admiral Group and Standard Life, ahead of the UK Budget which is expected to reveal another increase in insurance premium tax.

Admiral was also dragged lower by downgrades from Bank of America Merrill Lynch and HSBC.

NMC Health advanced as it reported a 46.7% jump in underlying full year profits of $150.3m on the back of a 36.8% rise in revenue to $880.9m.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 6,171.56 0.52%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 16,690.25 0.57%
techMARK (TASX) 3,096.42 0.53%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Aberdeen Asset Management (ADN) 289.20p 6.99%
Anglo American (AAL) 546.50p 5.99%
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 2,850.00p 4.55%
Glencore (GLEN) 147.90p 4.38%
Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 3,100.00p 4.10%
Old Mutual (OML) 189.00p 3.85%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 815.00p 3.82%
Whitbread (WTB) 3,937.00p 3.69%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 483.55p 3.37%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 182.90p 2.93%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Provident Financial (PFG) 3,000.00p -3.04%
Aviva (AV.) 482.20p -2.66%
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 6,200.00p -1.98%
Admiral Group (ADM) 1,879.00p -1.88%
Barclays (BARC) 163.25p -1.66%
Centrica (CNA) 227.50p -1.00%
Prudential (PRU) 1,346.00p -0.92%
BP (BP.) 345.45p -0.85%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 681.50p -0.66%
Standard Life (SL.) 362.10p -0.63%

FTSE 250 - Risers

NMC Health (NMC) 959.50p 5.56%
St. Modwen Properties (SMP) 313.20p 5.42%
Renishaw (RSW) 1,856.00p 5.10%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 216.10p 4.85%
Savills (SVS) 736.00p 4.32%
Ashmore Group (ASHM) 276.30p 4.26%
Countrywide (CWD) 367.30p 4.23%
Evraz (EVR) 92.60p 4.04%
Lancashire Holdings Limited (LRE) 556.50p 3.73%
Brown (N.) Group (BWNG) 361.50p 3.40%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Stagecoach Group (SGC) 258.90p -5.30%
Ladbrokes (LAD) 114.60p -5.29%
Acacia Mining (ACA) 255.60p -3.77%
AO World (AO.) 175.10p -2.72%
William Hill (WMH) 369.30p -2.46%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 328.50p -2.03%
Mediclinic International (MDC) 907.50p -1.89%
SIG (SHI) 139.50p -1.83%
Paddy Power Betfair (PPB) 9,155.00p -1.61%
Amec Foster Wheeler (AMFW) 489.00p -1.61%