Morning Markets: FTSE boosted by miners

The FTSE 100 was up 0.74%, or 38.31 points, at 5201.99 in early trading, with mining stocks the biggest winners.

Fresnillo, Xstrata, Kazakhmys, Vedanta Resources and Anglo American were all up between 2% and 2.5% following a rise in commodity prices. Troubled oil giant BP was the biggest loser following late gains last week, falling 2.85% to £3.80 a share. Argos-owner Home Retail Group also fell slightly, down 0.60% to £2.32 following a disappointing sales update on Friday. Outside the FTSE 100, insurance firm Resolution asked for its shares to be suspended after it confirmed it was in talks with Axa about buying its UK life assurance businesses for £2.75bn. In the US last week the Dow Jon...