The FTSE 100 has powered to a fresh intrady high for December as a continuing Christmas rally pushes the index ever closer to a new peak for the year.
Strong rises for miners and banks helped the FTSE touch 5382.95 in morning trading. That's just above the recent 14-month closing high of 5382.67 hit on November 16 and just below the 14-month intraday high of 5396.96 reached on the same day.
ENRC is the top riser, up 26.5p, or 3.1%, at 894.5p, as rising commodity prices boost the mining sector. Kazakhmys is up 2.7% at £12.79 and Rio Tinto is up 2.1% at £32.84.
In the banking sector, HSBC is the top performer, up 2.4% to 719.7p while Standard Chartered is close behind, up 2.3% at £15.82.
Defensive stocks are also higher, with British American Tobacco up 2.7% at £20.19.5.
Overall, the FTSE 100 is up 50 points, or 0.9%, at 5378 at 12.10 UK time. The bluechip index is up for the third straight session, alebit in thin pre-Christmas trading.
Philip Gillett, sales trader at IG Index notes support from the Bank of England's minutes from its latest policy meeting:
"The main story this morning was the unanimous decision by the Monetary Policy Committee to keep interest rates at their record low and maintain the Quantitative Easing programme at its current value. The BoE is clearly keeping all its options open in order to protect the recovery process.""It's difficult to read too much into this week's gains, with volume low and a lack of key economic data. But it's also difficult to ignore that the FTSE is currently near its best intraday reading for the year. Investors will be hoping this late rally continues into the New Year."
