Mining sector advance sees FTSE break losing streak

The Footsie closed 25.21 points higher at 5071.68, as Wall Street provided some much-needed support after a lacklustre trading session in London.

America's Dow Jones Industrial Average overcame a jittery opening to later stand more than 40 points higher, while the FTSE 100 was also helped by a bounce back from embattled BP and heavyweight miners.

But many banks faltered in a subdued start to the week, despite news that world leaders at the G20 summit at the weekend planned to give the sector plenty of breathing space before introducing new capital limits.

Asian-focused Standard Chartered dented sentiment after revealing a strong performance in the first half of the year, but signs of fading momentum in recent weeks. Shares were off 32p to 1710p.

Part-nationalised Royal Bank of Scotland was also down a penny to 431/2p, although an upgrade for fellow taxpayer-backed player Lloyds Banking Group saw the firm add 1.2p to 55.4p.

However, it was quite a successful day for the pound, which reached a 19-month high against the euro on speculation that euro zone debt woes would leave the region fiscally weaker than the UK. Sterling later stood 0.9 per cent higher at more than 1.22 euros.

BP was once more in the spotlight as it revealed it was now stopping more than 24,000 barrels of oil a day from leaking into the Gulf of Mexico, with reports indicating that the group could even plug the leak within two weeks.

The stock, which said clean-up costs were now approaching 2bn, was up around three per cent at one stage on hopes of quicker-than-expected progress on relief wells for the Gulf of Mexico spill crisis, but later pared back gains to stand 3.65p up at 308.25p.

Premier Oil was striding ahead however, surging more than seven per centafter it revealed the success of an exploration operation in the North Sea.

Premier's shares, in the FTSE 250, jumped after it emerged that the Catcher prospect off the coast of Scotland had the potential to be one of the region's biggest oil discoveries of recent years.

The firm, which has a 35 per cent stake in the exploration project, rose 84p to 1266p or seven per cent, while lead operator Encore Oil jumped 161/2p to 52p.

The tax levied on production from the North Sea fields has provided a welcome boost to the UK public finances since the early 1980s.

Although North Sea production has been in decline since 2000 and the country became a net importer of oil in 2005 for the first time in 25 years, offshore corporation tax revenues are still expected to come in at 7.6bn in the current financial year.

Elsewhere, shares in social housing firm Connaught tumbled by another 37 per cent – down 80p to stand at 135p – after Friday's grim warning that Chancellor George Osborne's savage emergency Budget would hit revenues and profits.

The company has a number of social housing maintenance contracts across Yorkshire.

Going the other way was engineering consultant Scott Wilson, which jumped 1321/2p to 252p or 111 per cent on prospects of a bidding war for the business.

The biggest Footsie risers of the session were Fresnillo up 49p at 1052p, Antofagasta ahead 21p at 848p, Anglo American up 551/2p at 25301/2p and Lloyds Banking Group ahead 1.2p to stand at 55.4p.

The biggest Footsie fallers of the day were Royal Bank of Scotland down a penny at 431/2p, Standard Chartered off 32p at 1710p, Tesco off 4.8p at 393.9p and Capita Group down 9p to stand at 767p.