Morning Markets: Miners up as FTSE surge continues

Miners continue to lead the FTSE 100 into positive territory after rising copper prices led to a strong showing yesterday.

Shortly into Tuesday trading, London's leading blue-chip index was up more than 21 points, or 0.4%, to 5,427.

Silver miner Fresnillo jumped 1.6% to 795p after doubling post-tax profits while gold miner Randgold Resources advanced 83p, or 1.7%, to £49.13.

Miners made significant gains on Monday as copper prices rose in the aftermath of the deadly weekend earthquake in major producer Chile.

Digital technology company ARM Holdings led the early risers, gaining 1.82% to 212p, following positive sentiment for the sector in Japan and the US.

Prudential, fresh from agreeing a $35.5bn buyout of AIG's Asian subsidiary, reversed some of yesterday's losses. It was trading at 534p, up 0.75%.

Meanwhile, RBS fell 1.28% to 36.22p while Lloyds TSB was down 1% to 49.76p.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 Stock Average rose almost 50 points, or 0.5%, to 10,221, as technology stocks advanced.

In the US, the Dow Jones closed Monday almost 80 points, or 0.76%, ahead at 10,403, boosted by news of the AIG deal and positive economic signs. AIG rose 4.4% to $25.85.

Technology companies also performed strongly following a bullish outlook from flash memory maker SanDisk Corp.

Intel advanced 1.66% to $20.87, Hewlett-Packard rose 1.48% to $51.54 and United Technologies Corp gained 1.44% to $69.64.

Sentiment was also buoyed by signs US consumer spending is on the rise. Official figures showed spending in January increased faster than expected.