FTSE hits 5 ½ year high

Old Mutual rose 2.20% to £1.74, Prudential gained 2.29% to £6.49 and Royal & Sun Alliance rose 1.68% to £1.51, benefiting from last week’s bullish figures from German peer Allianz. The miners jumped as gold futures touched on two-month highs in Asia trading this morning. Antofagasta added 4.09% to £5.28, Xstrata gained 3.64% to £23.89, Vedanta Resources rose 2.94% to £15.08, Rio Tinto added 2.23% to £29.85 and BHP Billiton increased 3.22% to £10.59. Consumer goods giant Unilever added 2.56% to £14.01 after Merrill Lynch lifted the shares to ‘neutral’ from ‘sell’ in reaction to last week...