Miners and Old Mutual drive FTSE higher

Follows China growth figures and UK inflation

The FTSE 100 index has soared higher today, as miners rebounded and financials showed a strong performance, with Old Mutual rising 6%.

The FTSE 100 shrugged off a bearish speech by Bank of England's Governor Mark Carney and a downgrade of global growth prospects by the International Monetary Fund earlier today, to rise more than 2% by mid-afternoon. Miners were some of the biggest risers in the blue chip index, after growth figures from China raised investors' hopes of further stimulus in the country. China's full-year GDP growth slowed to 6.9%, the poorest growth figure in 25 years, fuelling hopes the country may introduce further stimulus measures. This drove miners higher, which has seen Glencore topping the FT...