London midday: Miners lead equities higher

London stocks gained on Tuesday, led by a rally in mining stocks as precious metal prices rose.

“The bulls are back in charge, after what promised to be a worrying week now looks likely to result in yet another blockbuster week for the FTSE,” said IG market analyst Joshua Mahony.

“We are now in a position where sentiment is bullish by default and thus it seems like it will take something hugely significant to knock the indices off their stride.”

Fresnillo, Anglo American and BHP Billiton topped the FTSE 100 in midday trade, bolstered by a 2.87% jump in silver prices and a 0.77% increase in gold prices on the Comex.

The gold price was supported by news that China launched a yuan-denominated benchmark on Tuesday. The action was taken to help China exert more control over the pricing of the metal and boost its influence in the global bullion market.

“News that China has launched its own yuan-denominated benchmark will be seen as a positive for gold bugs, who will note the benefit of a growing Chinese influence in price setting, given their notable penchant for the commodity,” Mahony said.

Oil prices were also on the rise, reversing declines from the previous session when investors were still digesting a disappointing meeting between global producers in Doha on Sunday.

Members and non-members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries failed to come to an agreement to freeze oil production as the market had hoped, after Saudi Arabia reiterated that it would not cap output unless Iran agreed to do the same. Iran, which did not attend the negotiations, has been reluctant to come to such an agreement since it has recently been relieved of sanctions.

Helping to lift sentiment, Kuwait’s crude production dropped more than half on Sunday as thousands of its oil industry employees began an open-ended strike over government plans to cut wages. The nation’s output was 1.1m barrels a day, down from the usual 3m it produces.

At 1154 BST, Brent crude gained 1.6% to $43.65 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate increased 1.5% to $40.40 per barrel.

In economic data, German investor confidence came in better than expected for April, according to the latest survey from the ZEW Center for European Economic Research in Mannheim.

The index of investor and analyst expectations rose to 11.2 from 4.3 in March, beating consensus estimates of 8.0.

Still to come, US housing starts figures are due at 1330 BST.

Among individual stocks, Associated British Foods climbed after reporting first half earnings that were better than analysts’ had expected due to an improvement in its sugar business.

Meggitt jumped after it reiterated its full-year revenue guidance as it said first-quarter trading has been in line with expectations.

TUI and Carnival plunged, reversing the previous day’s rally when Berenberg said the sell-off after terror attacks in Tunisia, Egypt, Turkey, Paris and Brussels had been overdone and Britons would not be dissuaded from taking an overseas break this summer.

Aveva advanced after the provider of engineering data and design software did its best to reassure the market ahead of its results next month, saying its numbers looked to be in line with forecasts.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 6,380.18 0.42%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 17,083.36 1.15%
techMARK (TASX) 3,188.39 0.53%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Fresnillo (FRES) 1,048.00p 3.56%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 944.10p 3.02%
Anglo American (AAL) 712.80p 2.77%
GKN (GKN) 293.50p 2.51%
Glencore (GLEN) 161.75p 2.34%
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 243.00p 2.32%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 468.00p 2.14%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 834.00p 2.08%
Associated British Foods (ABF) 3,415.00p 2.03%
Intu Properties (INTU) 298.70p 1.84%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Paddy Power Betfair (PPB) 9,325.00p -2.10%
TUI AG Reg Shs (DI) (TUI) 1,046.00p -1.78%
Mediclinic International (MDC) 917.00p -1.77%
Royal Dutch Shell 'A' (RDSA) 1,781.00p -1.27%
Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 1,782.50p -1.25%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 437.80p -1.06%
Carnival (CCL) 3,648.00p -0.87%
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,497.50p -0.83%
CRH (CRH) 2,017.00p -0.64%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 532.50p -0.56%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Aveva Group (AVV) 1,627.00p 6.83%
Clarkson (CKN) 2,381.00p 6.06%
Entertainment One Limited (ETO) 191.40p 5.80%
Meggitt (MGGT) 411.70p 5.78%
Telecom Plus (TEP) 874.00p 5.68%
Euromoney Institutional Investor (ERM) 948.50p 5.39%
TalkTalk Telecom Group (TALK) 249.60p 5.09%
PZ Cussons (PZC) 328.20p 4.76%
Weir Group (WEIR) 1,177.00p 4.62%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 222.60p 4.36%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Supergroup (SGP) 1,232.00p -5.38%
Shawbrook Group (SHAW) 272.10p -2.82%
OneSavings Bank (OSB) 283.00p -2.75%
Laird (LRD) 361.40p -2.46%
International Personal Finance (IPF) 275.00p -1.15%
Marshalls (MSLH) 337.90p -0.94%
BGEO Group (BGEO) 2,108.00p -0.71%
Redefine International (RDI) 47.17p -0.67%
Domino's Pizza Group (DOM) 974.00p -0.56%
Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 93.25p -0.48%