Morning Markets: FTSE starts early recovery

The FTSE recovered some of last week's losses in early trading, rising 37.28 points (0.7%) to 5,098.20 with gains from miners and banks.

Xstrata rose 3.6% to 985.4p after the miner announced it was reinstating its dividend despite a slide in earnings due to heavy one-off costs and weak commodity prices. Randgold Resources climbed 3.17% to 4430p after upping its dividend by 30%. The Africa-focused gold miner said profits soared in the fourth quarter as it increased production and benefited from the continuing rise in prices. Banks too were among the early gainers, with shares in RBS up 1.55% to 32.550p and Barclays 0.9% higher at 270.35p, while financials also featured among the losers. ICAP fell 17.7% to 302.40p, Ll...