Morning Markets: FTSE up on banks and miners

Mining and banking stocks helped the FTSE 100 to a marginal gain in early trading on Thursday followi...

Mining and banking stocks helped the FTSE 100 to a marginal gain in early trading on Thursday following recent heavy falls in the sectors. At shortly after 8.30am, the index was up more than 11 points, or 0.26%, to 4,289.4. Global Mining group Xstrata was among the biggest winners, advancing 24p, or 3.73%, to 667.5p, while Kazakhmys gained 2.7% to 645.5p and Fresnillo climbed 0.26% to 570p. Completing the set, Antofagasta advanced 2.29% to 602.5p. In the banking sector, both Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Lloyds were going well. The former was up 1.35% to 37.5p, the latter up 1.79% to...