London open: Miners pace early gains after protesters enter key BHP mine

London miners paced early gains on Monday as news of a worsening strike at the world's largest copper mine sent futures for the red metal sharply higher.

As of 08:16 GMT FTSE 100 index was higher by 8.21 points at 7,266.96.

Investor sentiment was bolstered by positive news from US president Donald Trump's meeting with Japanese leader Shinzo Abe over the weekend and after he reaffirmed Washington's 'One China' policy in a telephone call with China's leader.

On 11 February, roughly 300 protesters illegally entered the premises of BHP Billiton's Escondida copper mine - the world's largest - in Chile, forcing some contract workers to leave.

Events at Escondida came as exports were halted from the second-largest mine in the world at Grasberg, Indonesia.

Combined, the news sent the Stoxx 600's sub-index of Basic Resource shares higher by 2.43% to 452.18 as March 2017 copper futures on COMEX shot up 1.41% to $2.8070 a pound.

This saw shares in BHP advance 3.61%, alongside gains of 2.32% for Rio Tinto and of 2.9% in Anglo American's stock.

Regarding Trump's stance towards China and Taiwan, investors had been especially worried that America would renege on its long-standing policy commitment of support to Chinese reunification, a lynchpin of its regional security strategy in Asia Pacific.

The new President's reaffirmation of that policy was made via a phone call with China's Xi Jinping, according to the White House.

On a more sombre note, his meeting with Abe came against the backdrop of an unexpected intermediate range ballistic missile test by the regime in Pyongang, North Korea, which served to underline the policy challenges faced by the new US administration.

Investors line-up for special divi at Fidessa

Fidessa declared a final and a special dividend as the financial software group said the increased headwinds in its markets during the second half of the year have already begun to reduce. For the calendar year, the FTSE 250 group generated £331.9m revenue, up 12% on a reported basis, or 3% when the benefit of sterling weakness is excluded, with profit before tax up 25% to £48.8m.

Capita and the Co-operative Bank have resolved their differences over claims that the outsourcing firm withheld payments from the bank due to delays as it helped administer mortgages for Capita’s clients.FTSE 100 Capita said on Monday that its Western Mortgage Services business will continue to provide mortgage administration services and process new mortgage applications for the Co-operative Bank, while work on the transforming the IT system will cease.

Passenger transport operator National Express announced on Monday that the transaction with Trenitalia over the c2c rail franchise had completed on 11 February, with the Italian state rail operator assuming all responsibility for the franchise’s operations immediately. The FTSE 250 firm had initially announced the deal on 11 February, selling the Essex Thameside franchisee for £70m, marking its exit from UK rail operations and Trenitalia’s British debut. Completion of the acquisition was triggered after the Department for Transport granted final consent to proceed.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,267.42 0.12%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 18,735.61 0.11%
techMARK (TASX) 3,348.63 0.09%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Associated British Foods (ABF) 2,553.00p 2.12%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 880.50p 1.67%
Glencore (GLEN) 326.00p 1.64%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,392.00p 1.61%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 1,386.00p 1.46%
Old Mutual (OML) 213.80p 1.23%
Anglo American (AAL) 1,368.50p 1.18%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 491.60p 0.94%
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 231.00p 0.92%
Babcock International Group (BAB) 888.50p 0.85%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Direct Line Insurance Group (DLG) 365.10p -0.79%
Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 3,147.00p -0.73%
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,582.50p -0.53%
Worldpay Group (WPG) 270.60p -0.51%
Diageo (DGE) 2,243.00p -0.51%
Bunzl (BNZL) 2,156.00p -0.51%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 6,990.00p -0.50%
Capita (CPI) 523.50p -0.48%
Experian (EXPN) 1,558.00p -0.45%
Croda International (CRDA) 3,380.00p -0.41%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Evraz (EVR) 256.80p 3.46%
Inmarsat (ISAT) 665.00p 1.99%
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 166.50p 1.52%
Elementis (ELM) 307.60p 1.52%
British Empire Trust (BTEM) 670.00p 1.52%
Investec (INVP) 583.00p 1.48%
Victrex plc (VCT) 1,969.00p 1.44%
Fidessa Group (FDSA) 2,434.00p 1.42%
Aldermore Group (ALD) 231.30p 1.36%
Ashmore Group (ASHM) 354.60p 1.31%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Greene King (GNK) 665.50p -1.63%
Senior (SNR) 191.00p -1.50%
RPC Group (RPC) 910.00p -1.36%
Shawbrook Group (SHAW) 257.00p -1.34%
ZPG Plc (ZPG) 380.20p -1.09%
Weir Group (WEIR) 1,966.00p -1.06%
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 175.70p -0.85%
Pets at Home Group (PETS) 188.00p -0.79%
Halma (HLMA) 950.00p -0.78%
Card Factory (CARD) 243.90p -0.77%