London’s blue chips were on the front foot as the US Federal Reserve's latest minutes pointed to interest rates staying where they are for a while.
FTSE 100 was 29 points higher at 6.404 following hefty jumps overnight in US markets and also in Asia where Tokyo and Shanghai both climbed by more than 1%.
The Fed’s committee members are worried about the influence of external forces, notably China’s economic slowdown.
China’s problems have already taken a heavy toll on the mining sector, but it was the miners recovering that were drove the gains today.
Glencore’s (LON:GLEN) rollercoaster month continued as it jumped 6% to 128p after cutting zinc output by a third.
Zinc prices immediately responded by rising 8%. Glencore said it will scale back its operations in Australia, South America and Kazakhstan, removing annual production of about 500,000 tonnes.
Vedanta (LON:VED) was another strong mining performer on the back of an upbeat trading statement and the fact that as a big zinc producer it should benefit from Glencore’s cutbacks.
Zinc production in the half year to September rose by 24% to 398,000 tonnes in India but was lower elsewhere as the Lisheen mine in Ireland winds down.
Tom Albanese, chief executive, said: "Our diversified asset portfolio has delivered a strong operating performance during the quarter, including record production from our tier-1 Zinc mines and lower costs at Copper-Zambia.” Shares jumped 10% to 583p.
Oil facilities builder Petrofac (LON:PFC) was also up by 10% as it terminated a contract with ZPMC, the sub-contractor for a JSD 6000 deepwater multi-purpose offshore vessel.
Elsewhere, shares in Renewable Energy Generation (LON:WIND) rocketed on an offer for its operating assets.
The offer is worth around 60p per share, a 60% premium to yesterday’s close, but is not an offer to acquire the ordinary share capital of REG just the projects it runs.
Proceeds of the sale will be returned to shareholders and the company will de-list. It recently blamed recent changes to government policy on solar energy for a profit warning.
Troubled video ad tracking firm Blinkx (LON;BLNX) edged higher as it confirmed its latest half year would be no worse than previously indicated.
Interim losses will be around US$7mln, with a possible return to profit in 6-12 months. Hedge fund Toscafund owns 24%. Shares rose 2.7% to 28.8p.
Iodine producer Iofina (LON:IOF) climbed 7% to 19p as it reported production, from the brine thrown off by onshore oil wells in the US, remains on track to hit this year's guidance.
Adgorithms (LON:ADGO) tumbled 59% on a warning earnings will be “materially below expectations following disruption in the online advertising market".