Morning Markets: FTSE pushes past 4,700

The FTSE 100 has bounced back over 4,700 for the first time since opening this week, with mining stocks at the forefront of today's strong gains.

At 10.30am, London’s blue-chip index was 65.12 points higher (1.39%) to 4754.79. Miner Rio Tinto’s strong interim earnings results has led its share price up 2.53% to £23.70; while Kazakhymys has climbed 3.59% to 909.5p and Lonmin is up 4.12% to £14.41. News of lower US stockpiles in crude saw the oil price climb above $72 a barrel, elevating the share prices of BP, Royal Dutch Shell, BG Group, Tullow Oil and Cairn Energy. Financial stocks also saw upward movement, with L&G adding 4.72% to 74.3p and RBS 3.9% higher at 47.72p. In the US, the Dow Jones closed Wednesday trading up ...