Mining stocks helped the London market end a five-day losing streak today as bargain-hunters returned to boost the FTSE 100 Index.
The FTSE 100 ended up 42.9 points at 6,286.6 as investors shrugged off concerns over weakness in the US and Chinese economies.
Eurasian Natural Resources – the biggest faller on Thursday – was the strongest gainer today, surging 27% or 61.2p to 291p, as major shareholder Alexander Machkevitch said he was considering a takeover bid for the Kazakh firm. Fellow miner Fresnillo was up 31p to £11.17, a 2.9% gain.
Banks also fared well with HSBC leading the sector higher with a 15.9p gain to 679.2p.
Drugs giant GlaxoSmithKline was under pressure after the Office of Fair Trading accused it of paying off generic rivals to delay cheaper versions of its antidepressant treatment Seroxat. While Glaxo denies the allegations, its shares were 6p lower at £16.52.
The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 included Vedanta Resources up 66p to £11.51 and Evraz 5.4p higher to 161.8p.
The biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 were IMI 19p lower to £11.74, Wolseley 32p weaker at £31.33, Rolls-Royce 9p lower at £11.23 and Tesco 2.5p off at 363p.
Steven McKay, of investment manager and financial planning specialist Brewin Dolphin in Aberdeen, noted that Petrofac strengthened 2.84% to £13.02, Plexus added 2.61% to 216.5p and Wood Group finished the trading session 1.39% higher at 803.5p.
On the fallers board, Wolfson Microelectronics fell 3% to 194.25p, Xcite Energy slipped 0.39% to 107.25p and Aberdeen Asset Management closed 0.2% lower at 400.3p.