LONDON, Dec 27 — The UK shares opened higher today, led by a rise in mining firms, while investors latched on to the year-end optimism driven by expectations that major central banks could begin cutting interest rates in the upcoming year.
By 8:14 GMT, the blue-chip FTSE 100 was up 0.3 per cent and the FTSE 250 mid-cap index rose 0.1 per cent.
Precious metal miners gained 1 per cent, mainly supported by expectations of interest rate cuts in the US next year.
Industrial metal miners led sectoral gains, adding 1.1 per cent as prices of most base metals rose after improved data from top consumer China, and a weaker US dollar.
Anglo American shares climbed 2.8 per cent to the top of the FTSE 100 index on a report that the miner was looking to sell shares in a US$9 billion (RM41.7 billion) UK mining project.
Darktrace was up 2 per cent on news that Michael Lynch had disclosed a 3.92 per cent stake in the cyber-security company. — Reuters