Morning Markets: Miner rally boosts FTSE

Mining stocks led the FTSE 100 up 25.69 points (0.45%) to 5,736.35 in early trading after the weaker dollar boosted gold prices.

Xstrata was up 2.3% to £12.64, BHP Billiton was 1.9% higher at £23.16 and Rio Tinto climbed 1.8% to £39.94. Shares in Smiths Group fell 1.3% to £11.28 after Nomura downgraded its rating on the stock to "neutral" from "buy", while South Africa-focused bank Investec dropped 0.98% to 556.50p after agreeing to pay £412m for the shares in British wealth manager Rensburg Sheppards which it does not already own.. In the US the Dow Jones index rose 46 points to close at 10,896 on Monday, with mining and energy stocks leading the advances due to higher global prices. Meanwhile, investor con...