London close: Resource-heavy FTSE 100 lifted by slowing Chinese inflation

Slowing inflation in China and a strong start to the US earnings season by Alcoa boosted the UK's resource-heavy FTSE 100 stock index on Tuesday, with miners leading the surge.Meanwhile, a raft of upbeat economic data from closer to the home lifted sentiment in the UK today, including better-than-expected industrial production in February and housing sales that hit a three-year high in the first quarter. As well, the National Institute for Economic and Social Research estimated that the UK economy skirted a triple-dip recession in the three months of the year, expanding by 0.1%.Chinese inflation slows dramatically in MarchChinese consumer-price inflation slowed to a 2.1% annual rate in March, down from 3.2% in February when prices soared on the back of the New Year holiday. Analysts had pencilled in a figure closer to 2.5%. Central Bank Governor Zho Xiochuan had said that he was on "high alert" against inflation after price rises in February came in above estimates. The figures today have sparked hopes that the People's Bank of China will hold off from tightening policy for the time being. Analysts at Goldman Sachs have said that lower inflation figures could give policymakers "more room to manoeuvre" to stimulate growth.The news that Fitch has decided to cut China's credit rating from 'AA-'to 'A+' seems to have undeterred traders today. Fitch cited a number of "underlying structural weaknesses" in China's economy and said that the "process of rebalancing the economy towards consumption could lead to the economy's performance becoming more volatile". Positive start to US earnings seasonSupporting markets today was Wall Street bellwether Alcoa which last night reported better-than-expected profits in the first quarter, kicking off earnings season with a bang. Earnings from the aluminium producer rose 59% year-on-year despite a slight drop in metals prices and a fall in revenue. Speaking to CNBC after the results, Chief Executive Klaus Kleinfield said: "I'm relatively optimistic that 2013 is going to be better than 2012."Banking giants JPMorgan Chase & Co and Wells Fargo & Co will also releasing their earnings reports later this week.FTSE 100: Miners receive boost from Alcoa and Chinese inflationStrong results from mining heavyweight Alcoa and rapidly slowing inflation in China were lifting resource stocks in London today, with Vedanta, ENRC, Rio Tinto, Xstrata and Glencore all making strong gains. BHP Billiton, Anglo American and Antofagasta were also performing well, shrugging off concerns about mining strikes that have hit operations in Chile. Anglo was being supported by the news that it would produce 3.0% more copper this year than the last.Banking stocks were performing well with Barclays, Lloyds and RBS all on the rise today. Tradenext highlighted Barclays as one of the stocks to benefit from the recent weakness of the sterling against the dollar, along with Shell, Vodafone and GlaxoSmithKline. Meanwhile, drinks giant Diageo fell despite both Jefferies and Nomura raising their target prices for the stock. Nomura admitted in a sector review that valuations of beverage stocks are high with the category trading at a 50% premium to the market on 2013 earnings, though the free cash flow yields are strong. Sector peer SABMiller was also lower.Energy services firm Wood Group rose after saying that its PSN business has signed a "significant" $150m two-year North Sea contract extension with Total E&P UK.FTSE 250: Miners also lead risers second-tier indexMining stocks on the FTSE 250 (like their top-tier peers) were the best performers of the day with Ferrexpo the standout performer. The iron-ore producer was up nearly 20% on the day after a 10.1% jump in first-quarter pellet production.Kenmare surged after reporting a 20% rise in heavy mineral concentrate in the first quarter; while Centamin edged higher after ecord gold production levels at its Sukari mine in the first three months. Lonmin, Hochschild Mining, Petropavlovsk and Kazakhmys also finished with decent gains.Heading the other day was AZ Electronic Materials which plunged by over a third after the chemicals company reported a fall in first-quarter revenues and margins, owing to a weaker-than-expected performance in its IC Materials division.FTSE 100 - RisersVedanta Resources (VED) 1,116.00p +5.28%Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) 260.00p +5.14%Rio Tinto (RIO) 3,135.00p +4.80%Glencore International (GLEN) 358.50p +4.63%Xstrata (XTA) 1,076.50p +4.16%Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,028.00p +3.79%BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,944.00p +3.51%Anglo American (AAL) 1,699.50p +3.34%Barclays (BARC) 286.00p +3.17%Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 5,460.00p +3.12%FTSE 100 - FallersDiageo (DGE) 1,965.50p -2.55%Whitbread (WTB) 2,392.00p -1.93%Smith & Nephew (SN.) 739.50p -1.66%Tate & Lyle (TATE) 838.50p -1.64%Aberdeen Asset Management (ADN) 402.00p -1.59%Associated British Foods (ABF) 1,849.00p -1.28%British Sky Broadcasting Group (BSY) 863.00p -1.26%Bunzl (BNZL) 1,274.00p -1.24%Compass Group (CPG) 814.00p -1.21%SABMiller (SAB) 3,364.50p -1.19%FTSE 250 - RisersFerrexpo (FXPO) 184.90p +19.21%Heritage Oil (HOIL) 175.10p +8.76%Hochschild Mining (HOC) 289.10p +8.03%Lonmin (LMI) 295.00p +7.74%Petropavlovsk (POG) 208.70p +6.81%Kenmare Resources (KMR) 30.00p +6.38%Man Group (EMG) 93.70p +6.36%Kazakhmys (KAZ) 393.50p +5.61%Laird (LRD) 218.90p +4.99%Keller Group (KLR) 818.00p +3.94%FTSE 250 - FallersAZ Electronic Materials SA (DI) (AZEM) 240.00p -34.96%Alent (ALNT) 340.00p -6.08%Michael Page International (MPI) 388.00p -3.65%Spirent Communications (SPT) 129.80p -3.57%Synthomer (SYNT) 196.00p -2.97%Fenner (FENR) 360.60p -2.49%Elementis (ELM) 247.30p -2.21%Dignity (DTY) 1,330.00p -1.70%QinetiQ Group (QQ.) 192.30p -1.69%Spectris (SXS) 2,256.00p -1.61%BC