Miners drive FTSE higher and Barratt soars
The leading share index rose in midday trade on Monday, driven higher by miners and heavyweight oil stocks as commodity prices rebounded.
FTSE gains as metals spur minersHousebuilders grabbed the spotlight after traders said Polaris Capital Management raised its stake in Barratt Developments, which jumped more than 25 percent.
Barratt Developments said in a statement Polaris had reached a threshold of a 6 percent stake and declined to comment further.
By 11:44 a.m., the FTSE 100 .FTSE was up 35.4 points, or 0.64 percent, at 5,524.1 points, adding to a 2.5 percent gain in the previous week.
Oil heavyweights BP and Royal Dutch Shell rose 1.4 and 1.8 percent respectively on the back of a modest recovery in crude prices as fighting between Russia and Georgia disrupted some exports from the Caspian region.
The release of producer price inflation data for July also gave some support. Official data showed that British manufacturers' costs unexpectedly fell at their sharpest pace in 1-1/2 years in July.
An advance in gold spurred on the mining sector, which added 10 points to the index.
Eurasian Natural Resources Corp fell 6.2 percent after copper producer Kazakhmys said it increased its stake in the group to a blocking majority of 25 percent but it had no intention to bid for now. Kazakhmys gained 1.7 percent.
Xstrata added 1.5 percent after the Sunday Telegraph said the miner was planning to raise more than 5 billion pounds to forge ahead with its $10 billion hostile takeover bid for South African platinum producer Lonmin.
The bidding price of 3,300 pence a share was however below the Lonmin share price, which was around 3,400 pence. Lonmin was down 0.5 percent.
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