FTSE 100 movers: Miners lift blue chips

18th Aug 2009 12:51

Once again mining stocks are in the driving seat but today they are driving the Footsie north, with many stocks recovering some of yesterday's heavy losses.Xstrata, ENRC, Kazakhmys and Antofagasta are the picks of the mining sector, along with cash strapped Rio Tinto, which has received a $2.025bn offer for the majority of its Alcan Packaging business. Rio said the binding offer has been received from Amcor and covers the Alcan Packaging global pharmaceuticals, global tobacco, food Europe and food Asia divisions. British Land's results have disappointed and cast a shadow over the real estate sector. The property group, which owns the Broadgate development in London's financial district, saw the value of its property portfolio fall to £8.18bn in the first quarter but said the pace of decline has slowed markedly. Land Securities and Liberty International slide in sympathy.In the financial sector, HSBC is wanted after positive comments from Goldman Sachs. The US bank reckons that HSBC Finance will stop being a major drag on HSBC's earnings from 2010 onwards, earlier than previously expected. Goldman Sachs has upgraded HSBC from 'neutral' to 'buy' and raised its price target from 580p to 820p.FTSE 100 - RisersXstrata (XTA) 776.50p +4.65%Legal & General Group (LGEN) 69.60p +3.57%Eurasian Natural Resources (ENRC) 785.00p +3.49%Kazakhmys (KAZ) 893.00p +3.42%Rio Tinto (RIO) 2,320.50p +3.34%Amec (AMEC) 735.00p +3.09%Antofagasta (ANTO) 729.50p +2.60%HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 654.00p +2.51%Serco Group (SRP) 428.60p +2.24%BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,536.50p +2.16%FTSE 100 - FallersInvensys (ISYS) 244.80p -3.09%British Land Co (BLND) 483.70p -2.52%Land Securities Group (LAND) 596.50p -2.21%Petrofac Ltd (PFC) 865.00p -1.93%Inmarsat (ISAT) 495.10p -1.77%Reed Elsevier (REL) 418.50p -1.74%Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 207.60p -1.10%Sage Group (SGE) 209.40p -1.09%Unilever (ULVR) 1,605.00p -1.05%British Airways (BAY) 172.10p -1.04%