London shares gain in early deals after Wall Street closes higher

London shares gain in early deals after Wall Street closes higher

	Published : Mon, 29 Oct 2007 09:20 By : Agencies Print this Story

LONDON (Thomson Financial) - Leading shares pushed higher in opening deals this morning, supported by a solid end to Wall Street's week ahead of the Federal Reserve's decision on interest rates Wednesday, with miners helping to drive the FTSE's advance.

At 8.22 am, the FTSE 100 index was 39.5 points firmer at 6,700.8, with the FTSE 250 index up 73.5 points at 11,583.1.

Last week saw a strong finish on Wall Street, boosted by strong earnings from Microsoft and an optimistic outlook from Countrywide Financial.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 134.78 to 13,806.7, while broader stock indicators also gained. The Standard & Poor's 500 index ended 20.88 points higher at 1,535.28, and the technology-dominated Nasdaq composite index advanced 53.33 points to 2,804.19.

Today in Asia, the mood was bright too. In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 index closed up 192.45 points at 16,698.08, helped by solid gains in banks and marine transport stocks.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng broke the 31,000 points level to end its morning session up 1,086.75 points at 31,491.97, hitting a new all-time high, boosted by big gains in property stocks and China banks, coupled with strength in large-caps HSBC and China Mobile.

Meanwhile, the price of oil surged above 93 usd a barrel in Asian trade Monday as tensions in the Middle East continued to spook investors.

New York's main futures contract, light sweet crude for December delivery traded at 93.12 usd, up 1.26 usd from its record close of 91.86 usd Friday.

In London, gains in heavyweight miners helped fuel the FTSE's early rise, supported by news of a 3 bln aud bid by Xstrata for Australian nickel miner Jubilee Mines, and with broker JP Morgan upgrading price targets following a quarterly review of metals pricing.

Xstrata took on 72 pence to 3,604, Rio Tinto was 141 pence higher at 4,558, Antofagasta rose 23 pence to 872-1/2, while BHP Billiton gained 40 pence to 1,883.

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