At the close of business, the FTSE100 was up 25.21 points at 5,071.68 with the FTSE250 was ahead 24.05 points at 9,630.10. Headline shares rallied towards the end of the day as mining stocks remained positive and as such more than compensated for the retreat in BP's share price. Gold and silver prices moved higher on continued European banking concerns and the perceived increased risk of a default by Greece and other sovereign borrowers. Copper prices were also higher on the back of a fall in inventory levels. US stocks started the day with modest gains as the market questioned whether the G20 commitment to cut budgets would restore stability or cut economic growth. Near the close in London, the Dow Jones was up 46 points at 10,190, the S&P 500 was 5 points higher at 1,081 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 15 points at 2,239.
LONDON MARKETS
Earlier in the day, BP (LON:BP.) 's share price had been up nearly 10p as investors were encouraged by the news that Storm Alex would miss the clean-up operation in the Gulf of Mexico and the oil giant also predicted over the weekend that the leak would be plugged early. But as the afternoon wore on much of the gain was dissipated as the share price ended just 3.65p up at 308.25p
Gold and silver prices were firm,as were most base metal prices, and these gave Fresnillo (LON:FRES) and Antofagasta (LON:ANTO) a strong push forward, up 49pp at 1,052p and 21p at 848p, respectively.
Kazakhmys (LON:KAZ) was up 20p at 1094, Vedanta was ahead 49p at 2297p and Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) was 67p higher at 3256.0p
Banks were generally lower, with Asia-facing Standard Chartered (LON:STAN) down 32p at 1,710p, even though the banking group reported that it is on course for a strong performance in H1 2010 as economic conditions improve. Investors were disappointed that expected interim revenues were not higher.
Royal Bank Of Scotland Group Plc (LON:RBS) edged down 0.99p at 43.45p and HSBC was 2.8p off at 639.00. The pick of the banks was Lloyds Banking Group (LON:LLOY) which ended the day 1.21p higher after the stock was given a buy recommendation by Nomura.
British Airways (LON:BAY) was up 2.2p…
