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London open: Miners jump on Chinese growth hopes

Tue, 29th May 2012 08:25

- Chinese stimulus hopes boost miners- Wolseley drops after third-quarter update- Greek banks receive liquidity injectionJust a couple of stocks on the FTSE 100 were in the red in early trading on Tuesday, as the blue chip index jumped on the back of Chinese stimulus hopes.Markets across Europe were making solid gains this morning but Spain was again bucking the trend as its troubled banking sector and elevated bond yields continued to weigh on sentiment.There were rumours of accelerated Chinese growth after Shanghai Securities News said that Chinese banks have "sped up" lending as the government fast-tracked the approval of infrastructure investments. The financial newspaper cited the Chinese-language publication, China Times, as saying that the speed of approval for projects by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) has been "impetuous". The NDRC is said to have approved more than 100 projects on May 21st alone, the majority in clean energy sectors, equal to the total number of projects approved in the first 20 days of the month.In Eurozone news, Greece's four largest banks - National Bank, Alpha, Eurobank and Piraeus Bank - received a huge liquidity injection today worst €18bn, distributed via bonds from the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF). Newsflow from Greece improved over the weekend after polls showed the pro-bailout party New Democracy as the favourite to win the elections in Greece on June 17th.In domestic news, Barclays Capital now expects CPI inflation to remain above the 2% target until mid-2014, on the back of which it estimates that households' real disposable incomes will decline by an average of 0.5% year-on-year during 2012-14, compared to their previous expectation that households would see incomes grow by around 0.7%. Only weak growth is expected in 2013, although a stronger recovery in 2015-16 is now expected.FTSE 100: Miners jump early on; Wolseley dropsMiners were among the best performers as hopes that a stronger Chinese economy could boost the demand for commodities. Rio Tinto, Evraz, Kazakhmys, Antofagasta, ENRC, Vedanta, Fresnillo, BHP Billiton and Xstrata dominating the top 10 risers list.Leading the fallers was plumbers' merchant Wolseley which saw like-for-like growth slow down in its fiscal third quarter as it runs up against tougher comparatives from last year. BG Group was in demand after saying it is to sell its majority stake in Brazilian gas distributor Comgás for around $1.7bn. Advertising and media giant WPP rose after saying that it is to buy a majority stake in French digital data and campaign technology marketing group Predictys, as it attempts to widen its footprint in the digital industry.FTSE 250: Greggs rises on government U-turn on 'Pasty Tax'The Government is to back down on plans to introduce VAT on hot savouries, such as Cornish Pasties, boosting shares of bakery chain Greggs. The group said that the rules would have led to further unemployment, high street closures and reduced investment.Logica, the business and technology service company, rose after revealing the conditional sale of half of its stake in Silta Oy, the Finnish provider of payroll outsourcing business and financial management. Full-year profits at Pennon came in ahead of expectations, with growth at South West Water more than offsetting a slow-down at Viridor, the waste management unit. Shares edged higher.FTSE 100 - RisersRio Tinto (RIO) 2,929.50p +2.52%Evraz (EVR) 306.50p +2.37%International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 140.30p +2.33%Kazakhmys (KAZ) 706.50p +2.32%Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,062.00p +2.31%Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) 466.50p +2.30%Vedanta Resources (VED) 994.50p +2.26%Fresnillo (FRES) 1,349.00p +2.04%BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,751.00p +2.01%Xstrata (XTA) 957.40p +1.87%FTSE 100 - FallersWolseley (WOS) 2,232.00p -2.96%Vodafone Group (VOD) 172.45p -0.09%FTSE 250 - RisersGreggs (GRG) 507.50p +8.77%Aquarius Platinum Ltd. (AQP) 77.75p +5.07%Essar Energy (ESSR) 112.30p +3.03%Ferrexpo (FXPO) 221.50p +2.45%Kenmare Resources (KMR) 42.58p +2.43%Talvivaara Mining Company (TALV) 146.60p +2.23%SDL (SDL) 659.00p +2.17%London & Stamford Property (LSP) 107.60p +2.09%Logica (LOG) 68.45p +2.09%Afren (AFR) 118.50p +2.07%FTSE 250 - FallersSupergroup (SGP) 315.00p -1.01%PayPoint (PAY) 600.50p -0.91%Perform Group (PER) 342.80p -0.67%JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 700.00p -0.50%African Barrick Gold (ABG) 340.20p -0.50%Ruspetro (RPO) 156.40p -0.45%Bumi (BUMI) 357.20p -0.45%Dixons Retail (DXNS) 14.91p -0.40%Cable & Wireless Communications (CWC) 31.03p -0.32%De La Rue (DLAR) 1,006.00p -0.30%BC

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