The FTSE 100 index has ended the day up 29.5 points or 0.52% to 5,693.2, with miners dominating the leaderboard as higher metal prices excited investors, although the blue chip index failed to keep above 5,700.
The miners staged a dramatic recovery from Wednesday’s wave of selling, with Kazakhmys, Xstrata, BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto all boasting big wins. Kazakhmys added 5.58% to 861.5p, while Xstrata advanced 3.12% to 1,552p. BHP Billiton gained 3.85% to 1,025.5p, and Rio Tinto added 3.7% to 2,890p. Blue chip electricity generator International Power also soared 5.34% to 276p, after Merrill Lynch slapped a 290p target price on the shares. Meanwhile AstraZeneca fell slightly by 0.45% to 2,667p, after it was upgraded to 'neutral' from 'underperform' by Credit Suisse as the Swiss broker cited ...
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