London midday: Miners lead the Footsie higher

Miners were making impressive gains by Tuesday lunchtime after price rises in China slowed more than forecast in March, increasing hopes that the People's Bank of China will hold off from tightening policy for the time being. Chinese 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 has been wary of inflation figures after February's data pushed past forecasts, so March's data takes pressure off the Chinese monetary authority to tighten policy as the world's second-largest economy seeks to combat an economic slowdown. In other economic news, UK industrial production rose by far more than forecast in February, while Germany's trade surplus unexpectedly widened.Also supporting markets this morning 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.Miners gain after Alcoa, Chinese inflationStrong results from mining heavyweight Alcoa and slowing inflation in China were lifting resource stocks in London this morning with ENRC, Vedanta, Rio Tinto, EVRAZ and Anglo American making strong gains.Iron ore producer Ferrexpo was a high riser after posting a 10.1% rise in pellet production in the first quarter.Heading the other way was chemicals group AZ Electronic Materials which plummeted after a disappointing first-quarter trading update, in which it revealed that full-year revenues are expected to be flat on last year but the group EBITDA margin would remain below normal levels. Group revenues were down 2.0% in the first three months of the year.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 beverages 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.Energy services firm Wood Group rose after saying that its PSN business has signed a "significant" two-year North Sea contract extension with Total E&P UK, with is expected to be valued at around $150m.Banking stocks were performing well with Barclays and RBS on the rise. 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.Oil group Tullow was lower after saying that it has agreed to sell its Bangladesh arm to KrisEnergy Asia Holdings BV, a subsidiary of KrisEnergy Asia, for $42.35m.FTSE 100 - RisersEurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) 257.40p +4.08%Rio Tinto (RIO) 3,095.00p +3.46%Vedanta Resources (VED) 1,094.00p +3.21%Barclays (BARC) 285.10p +2.85%Glencore International (GLEN) 352.20p +2.79%Xstrata (XTA) 1,062.00p +2.76%Anglo American (AAL) 1,686.50p +2.55%Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 272.70p +2.48%Evraz (EVR) 201.60p +2.18%BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,915.50p +2.00%FTSE 100 - FallersDiageo (DGE) 1,969.00p -2.38%Melrose Industries (MRO) 250.40p -1.88%IMI (IMI) 1,216.00p -1.70%Weir Group (WEIR) 2,241.00p -1.54%Tate & Lyle (TATE) 839.50p -1.52%Bunzl (BNZL) 1,271.00p -1.47%Whitbread (WTB) 2,405.00p -1.39%Smith & Nephew (SN.) 742.50p -1.26%Meggitt (MGGT) 466.00p -1.15%Experian (EXPN) 1,128.00p -1.14%FTSE 250 - RisersFerrexpo (FXPO) 175.00p +12.83%Man Group (EMG) 92.35p +4.82%Hochschild Mining (HOC) 279.60p +4.48%Kenmare Resources (KMR) 29.45p +4.43%Lonmin (LMI) 284.40p +3.87%Petropavlovsk (POG) 201.60p +3.17%Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 110.90p +2.97%Kazakhmys (KAZ) 382.80p +2.74%Heritage Oil (HOIL) 165.40p +2.73%Redrow (RDW) 189.60p +2.71%FTSE 250 - FallersAZ Electronic Materials SA (DI) (AZEM) 257.10p -30.33%Alent (ALNT) 345.00p -4.70%Centamin (DI) (CEY) 43.84p -4.28%Betfair Group (BET) 680.50p -2.79%Michael Page International (MPI) 391.60p -2.76%Spirent Communications (SPT) 130.90p -2.75%Filtrona PLC (FLTR) 690.00p -2.61%Ashtead Group (AHT) 570.50p -2.31%Berendsen (BRSN) 759.00p -2.19%Aveva Group (AVV) 2,091.00p -2.06%BC