Commodities lead gains as FTSE flirts with 6,000

Kazakhmys and Antofagasta led the FTSE winner's table shortly before mid-day, both advancing around 5% to £16.92 and 783.5p respectively. Friends Provident, up five points to 138.9p and the British Energy Group, up 25.5p to 736.5p have also made gains, as has Anglo American, which led the table earlier in the day. Meanwhile, pharmaceutical manufacturer AstraZeneca and GlaxoSmithKline were among the early morning losers. The Dow Jones fell 16.61 points, or 0.13%, to 12609.42 as General Motors dropped 1.01 points, or 4.68%, to 20.58 and Bank of America fell 0.96 points, or 2.38%, to 39.41....