miners

Lloyds Banking Group is among the fallers in early trading on Wednesday on rumours it is close to securing a deal that will see some of its bad loans insured under the Government's asset insurance scheme.

The Dow Jones is higher this morning on improving house price data and a rebound in consumer confidence.

The FTSE 100 has opened lower this morning as investor confidence was dented by weaker Asian markets overnight and a flat US session on Monday.

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.

London's blue-chip index has suffered a poor start to the week after sharp stock falls in Asia today, with property groups and miners among the early decliners.

The Dow Jones has opened lower this morning following news US personal income has suffered the largest drop in four years.

The FTSE 100 reached its highest level since October 2008 this afternoon, leaping more than 75 points to reach 4695.92 points.

Miners are leading the FTSE 100 higher this morning, as Barclays announced a near £3bn pre-tax profit for the first half of 2009.

The FTSE 100 has this morning begun to reclaim some of yesterday's losses, with a buoyant Schroders ahead early on the back of an upgrade from Morgan Stanley analysts.

In London, markets experienced strong, early growth, with banks and miners leading the pack. The FTSE 100 added 40.81 points (0.93%) to 4,429.56 by mid-morning.