London open: Miners provide a lift early on

The Footsie opened moderately higher on Friday morning, with financials an miners providing a lift. Miners were among the best performers early on.In other news, the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund has said that the world is facing similar threats seen in the Depression: "economic retraction, rising protectionism, isolation and . . . what happened in the 30s," said Christine Lagarde."There is no economy in the world, whether low-income countries, emerging markets, middle-income countries or super-advanced economies that will be immune to the crisis that we see not only unfolding but escalating," she said in a speech in Washington.Back in London, mining peers were on the way up as metals prices recovered after a recent sell-off. Xstrata, Kazakhmys, Antofagasta, Vedanta Resources, Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton and Randgold Resources were all in the top ten risers list.Barclays was higher despite having its credit rating downgraded by two notches from Fitch Ratings. However, the agency raised its outlook on the bank from negative to stable. "Given the group's substantial wholesale funding needs and extensive range of counterparties, Fitch believes Barclays will maintain a conservative approach to capitalization and liquidity, especially given increasingly stringent regulatory requirements ahead and the tough economic and market outlook", these analysts explain. BP fell into the red despite receiving a $250m settlement from Cameron International Corporation, the company which designed and manufactured the Deepwater Horizon 'blowout preventer', in relation to claims arising from last year's oil disaster.National Grid rose after announcing that $240m in deferred charges and storm compensation is coming its way. Shareholders didn't seem to notice that the electricity and gas company has lost the contract to operate the Long Island Electricity system which it has managed for 13 years.Sports Direct was the high riser on the FTSE 250 after withdrawing its offer for Blacks Leisure. Blacks, which put itself up for sale on 7 December, plummeted nearly 28% on the news. It's been reported that Blacks needs to refinance a £40m overdraft facility by February with the FT claiming the firm needs £20m in fresh equity to renovate its stores. BCFTSE 100 - RisersAshmore Group (ASHM) 325.50p +2.26%Xstrata (XTA) 966.80p +1.98%Kazakhmys (KAZ) 863.50p +1.95%Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,152.00p +1.95%Carnival (CCL) 2,177.00p +1.73%Vedanta Resources (VED) 1,098.00p +1.57%Rio Tinto (RIO) 3,067.50p +1.27%British Land Co (BLND) 460.10p +1.21%BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,858.00p +1.20%Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 6,450.00p +1.02%FTSE 100 - FallersMan Group (EMG) 130.90p -1.95%British Sky Broadcasting Group (BSY) 717.50p -1.03%Reed Elsevier (REL) 504.00p -0.59%Schroders (SDR) 1,265.00p -0.32%Schroders (Non-Voting) (SDRC) 1,024.00p -0.29%Diageo (DGE) 1,358.50p -0.29%Imperial Tobacco Group (IMT) 2,391.00p -0.25%GKN (GKN) 170.70p -0.23%Tate & Lyle (TATE) 677.50p -0.22%Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 434.10p -0.18%FTSE 250 - RisersSports Direct International (SPD) 195.70p +3.00%Aquarius Platinum Ltd. (AQP) 157.30p +2.68%Berendsen (BRSN) 423.60p +2.59%Mothercare (MTC) 166.80p +2.46%Hochschild Mining (HOC) 395.00p +2.28%Yule Catto & Co (YULC) 156.00p +2.16%Imagination Technologies Group (IMG) 534.00p +1.81%JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 580.00p +1.75%SDL (SDL) 673.50p +1.74%Premier Farnell (PFL) 180.00p +1.69%FTSE 250 - FallersShanks Group (SKS) 97.90p -3.55%F&C Asset Management (FCAM) 63.50p -2.31%New World Resources A Shares (NWR) 434.90p -1.92%Galliford Try (GFRD) 442.70p -1.84%F&C Commercial Property Trust Ltd. (FCPT) 102.20p -1.73%Pace (PIC) 71.50p -1.72%Soco International (SIA) 281.70p -1.64%Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust (ASL) 495.10p -1.57%Phoenix Group Holdings (DI) (PHNX) 522.00p -1.51%Ocado Group (OCDO) 71.90p -1.37%