Mining gains prop up FTSE
Gains in heavyweight miners kept Britain’s main share index flat this morning, as solid results from Randgold Resources and expectations of fresh stimulus measures from China propped up the equity markets.
The FTSE 100 was down 0.08 per cent, as Randgold rose 3.1 per cent after reporting a 10 per cent rise in second-quarter profit. The mining sector performed well, with Vedanta Resources and Anglo American both gaining 0.35 per cent, and Antofagasta up 0.9 per cent.
Glencore was up 1.7 per cent, along with Xstrata which gained 1 per cent.
Standard Chartered continued yesterday’s rally, gaining 3.5 per cent, as the bank continued to fight back against a threat by a US regulator to remove its licence due to its dealings with Iran.
The rest of the banking sector was mixed. Barclays nudged up 0.03 per cent, HSBC 0.1 per cent and Lloyds 0.25 per cent. Royal Bank of Scotland lost 1 per cent.
British insurer Aviva performed surprisingly, edging up 0.2 per cent, despite reporting a slump in first half-year profits, hit by restructuring costs.
BP lost 0.79 per cent, after agreeing the sale of its liquefied petroleum gas arm for £40m. Shell edged up 0.3 per cent.
Television broadcaster ITV was up 2.65 per cent, with investors cheered by yesterday’s news that the company could afford to give £1.3bn back to shareholders. Elsewhere in the sector, BSkyB was also up, 1.9 per cent.
On the downside, telecoms dropped, with BT Group losing 2.9 per cent and Vodafone dropping 0.7 per cent.
In Asia, the Nikkei closed up at 8,978, while the Hang Seng finished ahead at 20,269.