FTSE breaks above 5,000 again

The FTSE 100 is off to a solid start this morning after a late surge on Wall Street yesterday following Ben Bernanke’s comments that the US recession is over.

Wall St had a rocky day after a trade spat between the US and China began to escalate but the Dow Jones index finally closing 56.61 points (0.59%) up at 9,683.41 points.

Miners are currently leading London’s blue chip index higher pushing it up by 57.93 points (1.15%) to 5,100.06 points by 10:00am.

Tullow Oil is currently in the top spot gaining 4.42% to reach £11.35 after the FT reported it is part of a consortium headed by US firm Andarko, which has established a new oil frontier that stretches 1,100km along the African coast from Ghana to Sierra Leone.

Xstrata, Eurasian Natural Resources and Randgold Resources are also up having each gained over 3% this morning to reach £983p, £892p and £44.96 respectively.

The London Stock Exchange group is also moving higher, after news it has agreed to acquire MillenniumIT, a Sri Lankan-based technology services company serving the capital markets industry, for US$30m. Shares in the firm are up 3.96% to £8.40.

BAE systems is currently leading the downside after news yesterday it is to cut 1116 jobs and close an aircraft factory in Cheshire. Shares are currently down over 1% at 339p.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 closed up this morning despite concerns Premier Yukio Hatoyama’s new policies will slow the nation’s recovery. The index was up 53.15 yen (0.52%) at 10,270.77 yen.