London open: Miners push Footsie higher

London has started on a firm footing and is heading for its best month in decades with mining stocks in focus with BHP Billiton and Kazakhmys both making announcements.Mining giant BHP Billiton has successfully persuaded several of its iron ore customers in Asia to move to shorter term contracts. The renegotiated contracts cover the majority of BHP Billiton's iron ore sales volume. Brazilian rival Vale has also agreed a 90% price rise for iron ore according to reports today. Heavy write-downs meant lower full year profits at copper miner Kazazhmys despite a much stronger second half as the price of the metal rebounded. Copper prices hit a new 11-week high this week, but were weak at the start of the year and Kazakhmys's underlying profits for 2009 fell to $1.02bn from $1.14bn.Chit-chat between bankers about loans at social events has proved expensive for Royal Bank of Scotland. The OFT has fined it £28.6m for possible price-fixing after Barclays confessed to the watchdog what had been going on. Barclays is in the clear under the OFT rule of not punishing informers. South Africa-focused bank Investec has agreed to pay £412m for the sharesin British wealth manager Rensburg Sheppards that it does not already own.Daily Mail Group said first half trading has continued to be ahead of company expectations, but it remains cautious about the second half as the May election looms. Trading was boosted mostly by an improvement in its consumer businesses, as ad revenue picks up. Underlying advertising revenues rose 8% for the quarter to the end of March. Regional ad sales fell 5%.Punch Taverns today announced that chief executive Giles Thorley is stepping down from his post and leaving the board after nine years at the pub group. Pizza delivery firm Domino's Pizza continues to knock spots off its 2008 sales performance, with the company reporting a 10.5% rise in like-for-like sales for the year to date. The group said it has had a strong start to 2010, despite the adverse weather conditions in the early part of the year.Full-year sales volumes and turnover at Robert Wiseman have been running ahead of expectations, and the dairies operator is confident it will deliver profits that are ahead of previous forecasts.Sausages, bacon and pork maker Cranswick expects its full-year trading performance to be towards the upper end of market forecasts. The net asset value per share of Rugby Estates Investment Trust rose by just under a quarter in 2009, putting its portfolio performance in fourth place in a peer group of 268 funds.