London open: Miners track metals prices higher

29th Jun 2011 08:44

The Footsie opened strongly on the back of decent gains from the miners, as metals prices headed higher.Antofagasta, Xstrata and Vedanta Resources were among the top risers early on.Tate & Lyle, the food ingredients giant, fell lower, extending losses from yesterday after RBS cut its rating on the stock from buy to hold.Property group British Land headed higher after acquiring a prime Maidenhead property for £74m.On the FTSE 250, Senior was the best performer after the group said it expects pre-tax profit for the six months ended 30 June to be ahead of previous expectations, driven by the recovery in the truck markets and increased production in its Aerospace Division.UK-listed oil producer Exillon Energy was also higher after preliminary results from Exploration Well 4 in West Siberia confirmed the presence of 6.7m of effective net oil pay in a new area.Bus and train group Stagecoach fell into the red as sales of £2.39bn came short of expectations of £2.47bn.Betfair, the betting exchange that has been rocked by a number of departures by high ranking executives, said full year profitability came in ahead of expectations, though it conceded revenue growth "could have been stronger". Shares were flat early on.International energy services firm Hunting edged higher after saying it remains confident that trading will be in line with expectations for year ending 31 December 2011. BCFTSE 100 - RisersAntofagasta (ANTO) 1,339.00p +2.76%Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,409.00p +2.25%Experian (EXPN) 780.50p +2.16%Xstrata (XTA) 1,309.00p +1.95%Wolseley (WOS) 1,993.00p +1.94%Smiths Group (SMIN) 1,171.00p +1.91%Vedanta Resources (VED) 2,009.00p +1.88%IMI (IMI) 1,014.00p +1.86%Autonomy Corporation (AU.) 1,653.00p +1.85%Amec (AMEC) 1,067.00p +1.81%FTSE 100 - FallersMan Group (EMG) 228.30p -1.93%Tate & Lyle (TATE) 609.00p -1.54%ARM Holdings (ARM) 585.00p -0.76%Compass Group (CPG) 597.50p -0.67%Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 367.70p -0.33%British Sky Broadcasting Group (BSY) 848.50p -0.06%Land Securities Group (LAND) 834.00p +0.06%Next (NXT) 2,278.00p +0.09%Scottish & Southern Energy (SSE) 1,389.00p +0.22%Vodafone Group (VOD) 162.40p +0.22%