FTSE soars as miner climbs continue

A strong showing from the mining sector has helped the FTSE 100 rise in early trading this morning, increasing 110.58 points, or 2.8%, to 4,066.51.

Lonmin, BHP Billiton, Xstrata and Vedanta Resources are all performing well again after widespread gains yesterday. Kazakhmys leads the way with a 9.2% rise, with its shares up to 427.50p.

Xstrata continued its recent gains amid speculation it could be a target for one of its rivals, with its price up 6.95% to 546p this morning.

Barclays leads the way in the banking sector after the European Union dropped its case against Mastercard's transaction fees. The bank's price was up 7.45% at 168.70p.

Standard Chartered has seen its share price rise climb after snaring an equity stake in construction services company, Man Infraconstruction Limited. The bank's price has climbed by 6.63% to 940.50p.

Silver producer Fresnillo saw its price fall by 1.02% to 460.50p. Drax Group also suffered a drop in its share price, falling by 0.67% to 516.50.

In the US, the Dow Jones rose 152.68, or 2%, to 7,761.60 last night, as financials continued to bounce back from the early week sell-off. Wall Street closed on a solid footing on Wednesday as better-than-expected economic reports helped extend a four-week rally.

Japan's Nikkei climbed 3% on Thursday, with exporters climbed on growing optimism about the US economy and a weaker yen. Toyota Motor Corp and other carmakers rallied US auto sales data for March beat Wall Street's forecasts.