FTSE 100 movers: Miners lead rebound as dollar drops
London's FTSE 100 index was led higher by mining and commodities companies as the US dollar drifted lower as the market digested new policies and comments from the White House.
The dollar was down 0.5% on the pound, 0.9% against the euro - not far off last week's six week lows - and losing more than 1% on the yen as haven flows also saw gold and Treasuries benefit.
Antofagasta led the risers, climbing in tandem with a rally in copper prices, while the weaker dollar also helped pushed up commodity prices such as platinum and silver.
Precious metals miners Fresnillo and Randgold Resources were among the top risers, along with more diversified Anglo American, BHP Billiton and Glencore.
SSE pared most of its early losses after the Scottish energy giant confirmed it still expected to return to full year growth and increase its dividend by at least the same rate as inflation this year and in the future.
Analyst Nicholas Hyett at Hargreaves Lansdown said while SSE's prospective yield of over 6% represented a pretty generous payment he pointed out that that the heady height of the yield was a reflection of the fact that cash generation has been a problem for the group in recent years.
"Capex has surged, hitting a record high this year, but cash generation has remained stubbornly flat, with returns to shareholders fuelled by disposals rather than organic performance. That’s not sustainable in the long term, meaning the group will have to either slash costs or reduce capital expenditure," he said.
FTSE 100 - Risers
Antofagasta (ANTO) 840.50p 3.26%
Fresnillo (FRES) 1,457.00p 3.04%
Anglo American (AAL) 1,368.00p 2.63%
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 6,795.00p 2.41%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,449.50p 2.40%
Old Mutual (OML) 210.10p 2.04%
Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,656.00p 1.85%
Glencore (GLEN) 327.45p 1.83%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 1,352.00p 1.81%
Sage Group (SGE) 617.00p 1.73%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Legal & General Group (LGEN) 236.00p -1.58%
Carnival (CCL) 4,262.00p -1.43%
Associated British Foods (ABF) 2,399.00p -1.32%
Next (NXT) 3,837.00p -1.26%
AstraZeneca (AZN) 4,209.00p -1.21%
Tesco (TSCO) 195.60p -1.11%
Merlin Entertainments (MERL) 479.30p -1.01%
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 3,682.00p -0.94%
Whitbread (WTB) 3,929.00p -0.91%
WPP (WPP) 1,860.00p -0.91%