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LONDON (Alliance News) - Shares in London ended higher Tuesday, with the FTSE 100 hitting a new 2016 high, as a weak dollar supported a rise in commodities prices, pushing mining stocks higher.

The FTSE 100 ended up 0.8%, or 51.83 points, at 6,405.35. The blue-chip index touched a new 2016 high at 6,418.25 around mid-morning, a level it hasn't seen since early December.

Oil and metals prices rose on the back of a weak dollar, with Brent quoted at USD43.99 a barrel at the London equities close against USD43.18 a barrel at the same time Monday.

A recovery in Brent oil price was the main support for stocks Tuesday, a relationship that has remained constant between the North Sea benchmark and the FTSE 100 throughout the last year.

Crude prices slid early Monday, although they went on to recover all the ground lost afterwards. The decline followed the failed production freeze agreement in Doha on Sunday. However, the negative sentiment was counterbalanced by an oil workers strike that is disrupting production in Kuwait.

"Global stocks continue to track the resurgent crude market higher, as one of the unlikeliest of rallies continues to prove it has legs. The ability of markets to disregard the continued supply glut speaks volumes about the fact that when markets are in the mood, fundamentals take the back seat to pure emotion and sentiment," said IG analyst Joshua Mahony.

Meanwhile, gold was at USD1,254.50 an ounce at the close compared to USD1,234.77 on Monday, while silver was at USD16.94 an ounce, higher than the USD16.21 on Monday.

That pushed mining stocks higher, leading the gains in the blue-chip index. Anglo American ended up 8.5%, Antofagasta up 7.6%, Glencore up 7.5% and BHP Billiton up 5.2%. Later Tuesday, BHP publishes its March operational review at 2330 BST.

The pound was trading at USD1.4397 at the close, against USD1.4263 at the same time Monday, while the euro was at USD1.1378, compared to USD1.1319 on Monday.

Stocks in New York were mixed at the London close, with the Dow 30 up 0.3%, as well as the S&P 500, and the Nasdaq Composite down 0.3%.

Investors in the US were awaiting first-quarter results from technology companies Yahoo and Intel after the US close. Before the market open, financial firm Goldman Sachs Group reported a 56% drop in profit for the first quarter of 2016 from the prior year, while quarterly net revenues declined by 40%.

In the economic calendar, US housing starts pulled back by much more than expected in March after a sharp increase in new residential construction in the previous month, data from the US Commerce Department showed. The report said housing starts tumbled by 8.8% to an annual rate of 1.089 million in March after jumping by 6.9% to a revised 1.194 million in February.

European stocks also performed well, with the CAC 40 in Paris ending up 1.3% and the DAX 30 in Frankfurt up 2.3%.

German economic confidence strengthened for the second straight month in April, survey results from the ZEW-Centre for European Economic Research showed. The Indicator of Economic Sentiment rose more than expected to 11.2, whilst it was forecast to rise to 8.0.

Stocks in Europe took the lead from a positive session in Asia. The Nikkei 225 in Tokyo closed up 3.7%, recovering from its 3.4% loss on Monday following the earthquake that hit the island of Kyushu. In China, the Shanghai Composite ended up 0.3%, while the Hang Seng in Hong Kong closed up 1.3%.

Elsewhere in London, Rolls Royce Holdings ended up 4.7% after the UK government said the blue-chip engine maker and Airbus have signed agreements worth GBP4.00 billion with the national carrier of Indonesia covering the upgrade of some of the airline's fleet.

The pair will upgrade the airline's 14 A330s to the newer A330neo, which will be worth nearly GBP1.00 billion to the UK economy, according to the government. The deal has been signed on the first day Indonesian President Jokowi's two-day visit to Britain.

Rolls Royce, specifically, has signed an agreement covering for the provision and aftercare of Rolls-Royce engines. It was not revealed how much of the GBP4.00 billion deal is attributable to the London-listed firm.

Information services company Experian added 2.5% after saying it has agreed a GBP360.0 million cash deal to buy Texas-headquartered identity theft protection and fraud detection provider CSIdentity Corp.

The UK-listed group has acquired CSIdentity from mid-market private equity firm Investcorp and other investors. Experian said the deal will boost its position in the affinity and direct-to-consumer credit and identity products.

Associated British Foods finished up 2.0%. The food, ingredients and retail group reported growth in profit in the first half of its financial year but slightly lower revenue due to unfavourable foreign exchange rates, but said it no longer expects currency translations to have a "material impact" on its full-year results.

AB Foods, which owns discount fashion retailer Primark, said its pretax profit in the 24 weeks ended February 27 grew to GBP457 million from GBP213 million in the same period the year before, as it didn't book any exceptional items in the period.

Revenue, however, retreated by 2% to GBP6.12 billion from GBP6.25 billion, although this would have grown by 2% on a constant currency basis, AB Foods said. AB Foods will pay an interim dividend of 10.3 pence per share, which is up 3% year-on-year.

The FTSE 250 ended up 0.9%, or 154.50 points, at 17,044.25, and the AIM All-Share ended up 0.1%, or 0.78 points, at 734.34.

AVEVA Group, the engineering software company, ended as the best mid-cap performer, up 9.1%. It said it anticipates revenue and adjusted pretax profit, stripping out exceptional items, will broadly meet market expectations for the year to the end of March.

Following the update, Numis upgraded AVEVA to Buy from Add.

Aerospace and defence components company Meggitt added 6.2% after it said trading in the first quarter met its expectations, with solid performances in its civil aerospace and defence arms offset by weakness in its energy unit. The in-line trading soothed investors concerns following the damaging profit warning Meggitt issued in late 2015.

Telecom Plus, the utility services provider, also ended among the best mid-cap performers adding 5.0% after it said it is confident in meeting its adjusted pretax profit guidance for the financial year to the end of March.

In AIM, shares in Webis Holdings almost doubled in value, up 84%. The gaming company and racetrack operator said its WatchandWager.com subsidiary has extended its deal with the French Pari Muteul Urbain to provide customers access to betting directly in French horseracing pools. The deal will also include video streaming of French racing for WatchandWager.com customers, Webis said.

In the UK corporate calendar Wednesday, ARM Holdings and Metro Bank release first-quarter results. RELX, Bunzl, Travis Perkins, GKN, Amec Foster Wheeler, N Brown Group, and MoneySupermarket.com Group issue trading statements.

Meanwhile, Evraz releases first-quarter production results and Punch Taverns publish half-year results. Highland Gold Mining and Hvivo release full-year results. Hoschild Mining releases its first-quarter production results at 1430 BST.

In the economic calendar Wednesday, Germany's producer price index is due at 0700 BST, while the UK's unemployment rate is due at 0930 BST. In the US, the Energy Information Association crude oil stocks are due at 1530 BST.

By Daniel Ruiz; danielruiz@alliancenews.com

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