London open: Buoyant miners lift Footsie

Buoyant mining shares are giving London's blue chips a lift in early dealings the day after gold hit a new record high.Nine out of the ten top FTSE 100 performers are miners. Lonmin is leading the way, closely followed by Xstrata, Rio Tinto, Fresnillo, Kazakhmys, Antofagasta, Vedanta Resources, Anglo American and BHP Billiton.Gold futures hit another record on Wednesday, driven higher by inflation concerns and the weaker dollar. Gold for December delivery rose $4.70 to $1,044.40 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Part-nationalised bank Lloyds Banking Group is proposing to raise around £25bn in capital by means of a right issue and a debt to equity conversion. The plans will see the state's stake in the bank rise from 43% to 62%.Ladbrokes is leading the FTSE 250 fallers after the bookmaker announced plans to raise £275m via a rights issue as it warned that profitability has continued to weaken largely as a result of lower gross win margins. The group also scrapped it final dividend in 2009 but said it intends to re-instate dividend payments at the interim results next year.Car and bike accessories retailer Halfords rallied after it saw the rate of like for like (LFL) sales growth pick up in the second quarter of its financial year. With sales and margins improving the board said it expects full-year profit before tax to be in the range of £59m to £61m.Mobile phone retailer and broadband provider Carphone Warehouse reiterated its existing guidance for the year to March 2010, after posting rises in customers at its two divisions. Support services and construction company Carillion said it continues to perform well and remains on track to deliver materially enhanced earnings in 2009, despite challenging market conditions.Miner Vedanta said zinc, copper and aluminium operations were at full capacity during the second quarter as it revealed a 16% rise in refined zinc production and a 27% surge in iron ore output.Australian air Express (AeE) has extended defence firm Cobham's long term contract to provide air freight services to eastern Australian ports. The contract extension is worth AU$100m.Recruitment firm Hays posted continuing sharp revenue falls across its geographical and business divisions in the quarter to September 30, with permanent recruitment fees leading the decline, falling by half.Italian restaurant chain Carluccio's said it expects to post a pre-tax profit ahead of expectations after seeing an 8% rise in turnover in the year to 27 September.Hochschild Mining has increased the size of the bond issue announced on Wednesday as part of its fund raising plans.FTSE 100 - RisersLonmin (LMI) 1,624.00p +3.70%Xstrata (XTA) 958.00p +3.57%Kazakhmys (KAZ) 1,136.00p +3.46%Vedanta Resources (VED) 2,177.00p +3.42%Rio Tinto (RIO) 2,831.50p +3.40%Fresnillo (FRES) 837.50p +3.40%Anglo American (AAL) 2,163.50p +3.15%Antofagasta (ANTO) 822.00p +3.07%BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,786.50p +2.67%Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 50.85p +2.42%FTSE 100 - FallersShire Plc (SHP) 1,036.00p -0.58%Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 311.50p -0.26%Cadbury (CBRY) 792.00p -0.19%Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 233.90p -0.17%Severn Trent (SVT) 966.50p -0.10%Kingfisher (KGF) 219.80p -0.09%United Utilities Group (UU.) 454.80p -0.04%Vodafone Group (VOD) 136.95p -0.04%