FTSE climbs on banks and miners

London's blue chip index has climbed to 25 points to 4,445 early. Lloyds' shares are up nearly 3% to around 63p, although reports this morning suggests it plans to shut its Cheltenham & Gloucester branch network and axe up to 1,500 jobs. Royal Bank of Scotland is also among the day's strongest openers, up 2.27% to 36.1p. The other top gains this morning are miners Vedanta Resources, 3.13% higher to 1,645p, Eurasian Natural Resources, up 2.3% to 668.5p, and Kazakhmys, advancing 2.19% to 701.5. HSBC shares dropped 1.1% to 517.75p on yesterday's news it is to stop paying current accoun...