Mining and insurance lifts FTSE 100

Tuesday, 10 March 2009 12:00

The FTSE 100 made further gains in early trading on a surge in mining and insurance stocks, taking the index 21.14 points higher to 3,563.54.

Investment firm Man Group led the risers, up 8.68 per cent by 08:38 GMT, while Legal & General followed with an 8.26 per cent gain.

Barclays, which took a hammering yesterday amid concerns for the banking sector, recovered some of its losses, rising seven per cent to 65.70p.

Mining stocks were also climbing, including Rio Tinto, up 5.08 per cent and Kazakhmys, up 4.56 per cent.

However, many stocks on the UK's leading share index were trading lower, led by Land Securities Group, which fell 12.11 per cent.

Utilities were also off, with National Grid down 2.13 per cent and Severn Trent falling by 2.11 per cent.

Over in the US, the markets closed lower as news of a merger between drug firms Merck and Schering-Plough sent shares tumbling.

The Dow Jones ended 1.2 per cent lower, while the S&P 500 was off 1.0 per cent.

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