Morning markets: UK close to recession as BHP records bumper profits

As Russia signed a ceasefire at the weekend to withdraw from Georgia, miners and oil companies led t...

As Russia signed a ceasefire at the weekend to withdraw from Georgia, miners and oil companies led the FTSE 100 Index, which opened at 5454.80 today. Rio Tinto was a core winner, up 2.55% as was BHP Billiton, up 1.96% to 1559p, which today reported record profits for the seventh consecutive year the face of surging commodity prices. The latter mining giant reported an underlying profit figure of $28bn, up 22.1% on last year’s results. Underlying EBIT was up 21.0% to $24.3bn. The group’s dividend was rebased for the second time, which it said demonstrated its confidence in the market o...