London close: Mining stocks stage late rally on Chinese stimulus hopes

LONDON (ShareCast) - UK stocks finished higher after a choppy session on Thursday, with investors having to digest a raft of corporate earnings, mixed economic data and developments in Greece. After swinging between the red and the green for most of the day, London's FTSE 100 rallied in afternoon trade as blue-chip miners extended gains following data which showed that Chinese manufacturing activity contracted again in April, raising hopes for further stimulus from Beijing.

The Footsie ended the day up 25.43 points at 7,053.67, well above the intraday low of 6,995.79 reached early on.

Developments in Greece were continuing to act as a backdrop for markets no Thursday as Greek prime minster Alexis Tsipras called for the speeding up of talks to reach a reform-for-cash deal with creditors.

As Tsipras met with German chancellor Angela Merkel at the sidelines of an EU summit in Brussels, a German official was quoted as saying that while Berlin wants to keep Greece in the euro area, "time is running short".

However, according to analyst Joshua Mahony from IG (LSE: IGG.L - news) , a Greek official stated that according to the current rate of progress, a deal would be done by the end of the month. "Unfortunately, for anyone with a memory, this simply reinforces the trend of Greek positivity and disregard for the needs of their creditors, followed by negativity and worry from creditors who repeatedly get their demands rebuffed," Mahony said.

In economic data, revisions to UK public-sector net borrowing figures had given sentiment a lift on Thursday morning after the deficit was revised down to £87.3bn for the 2014/15 fiscal year, below the £90.2bn budget forecast.

However, UK retail sales fell 0.5% in March due to a decline in fuel sales, the Office for National Statistics said, missing the 0.4% increase expected by analysts.

Manufacturing data from China, Europe and the US also showed that growth had either slowed or, in the case of China, fallen deeper into negative territory. Other US data also disappointed, with jobless claims unexpectedly rising and new home sales falling more than anticipated.

Pace (Other OTC: PCMXF - news) rockets, miners rise Pace , the UK cable television set-top box maker, jumped 35% after agreeing to be taken over by US telecommunications equipment manufacturer Arris in a $2.1bn deal. Pace management have agreed that Arris will pay Pace shareholders 426.5p in cash and stock, a 28% premium to the closing price on Wednesday.

Mining stocks were on the rise as weak Chinese data - the HSBC manufacturing purchasing managers' index fell to a one-year low - spurred hopes that the People's Bank of China (HKSE: 3988-OL.HK - news) will inject more stimulus into the world's top metals consumer. Antofagasta (Other OTC: ANFGF - news) , Rio Tinto (Xetra: 855018 - news) , BHP Billiton (NYSE: BBL - news) and Fresnillo (Other OTC: FNLPF - news) were among the best performers.

Even Anglo American gained despite reporting that two of its three largest divisions saw declines in output in the first quarter. Nevertheless, the company said it performed in line with expectations during the period.

First (Other OTC: FSTC - news) quarter like-for-like sales growth from WPP (LSE: WPP.L - news) was slightly slower than hoped, though profits and margin at the media megalith were "well above target" and the outlook statement was unchanged.

Limiting upside were a number of stocks that went ex-dividend, including Aggreko (LSE: AGK.L - news) , Antofagasta, ARM Holdings (LSE: ARM.L - news) , Barratt Development, BG Group (LSE: BG.L - news) , Glencore (Xetra: A1JAGV - news) , Legal & General (LSE: LGEN.L - news) , Mondi (LSE: MNDI.L - news) , Old Mutual (Other OTC: ODMTY - news) and Unilever .

Aircraft parts manufacturer Senior fell after a subdued trading update, with the group warning that its 2015 profit outlook would be more weighted towards the second half than normal.

Market Movers techMARK 3,258.42 +0.66% FTSE 100 7,053.67 +0.36% FTSE 250 17,684.73 +0.28% FTSE 100 - Risers Anglo American (LSE: AAL.L - news) (AAL) 1,062.00p +4.73% Antofagasta (LSE: ANTO.L - news) (ANTO) 784.50p +4.67% Fresnillo (FRES) 727.50p +3.49% Rio Tinto (RIO) 2,958.00p +3.30% BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,531.50p +3.27% Ashtead Group (LSE: AHT.L - news) (AHT) 1,169.00p +2.63% Barclays (Swiss: BARC.SW - news) (BARC) 258.45p +2.03% Coca-Cola HBC AG (CDI) (CCH) 1,368.00p +2.01% Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 193.50p +1.63% Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 267.00p +1.52% FTSE 100 - Fallers Legal & General Group (LGEN) 265.10p -4.37% Old Mutual (OML) 231.10p -2.69% Sports Direct International (LSE: SPD.L - news) (SPD) 616.50p -2.30% Mondi (MNDI) 1,322.00p -2.29% Johnson Matthey (LSE: JMAT.L - news) (JMAT) 3,405.00p -1.76% WPP (WPP) 1,572.00p -1.50% easyJet (EZJ) 1,825.00p -1.24% Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 1,035.00p -1.24% GlaxoSmithKline (Hanover: GS7.HA - news) (GSK) 1,530.50p -1.16% Aggreko (EUREX: AGKF.EX - news) (AGK) 1,653.00p -1.14% FTSE 250 - Risers Pace (PIC) 447.00p +34.64% Lonmin (LMI) 145.60p +8.66% Premier Oil (LSE: PMO.L - news) (PMO) 173.80p +5.46% Tullow Oil (LSE: TLW.L - news) (TLW) 417.80p +4.90% Betfair Group (LSE: BET.L - news) (BET) 2,351.00p +4.86% Entertainment One Limited (LSE: ETO.L - news) (ETO) 324.00p +4.38% Petra Diamonds Ltd (LSE: PDL.L - news) .(DI (KSE: 003160.KS - news) ) (PDL) 167.80p +4.22% TalkTalk Telecom Group (TALK) 360.10p +3.75% Premier Farnell (LSE: PFL.L - news) (PFL) 193.00p +3.49% Jimmy Choo (LSE: CHOO.L - news) (CHOO) 170.00p +3.03% FTSE 250 - Fallers Senior (SNR) 325.20p -5.77% Hansteen Holdings (LSE: HSTN.L - news) (HSTN) 120.00p -4.69% UBM (UBM (LSE: UBM.L - news) ) 542.50p -3.04% William Hill (Other OTC: WIMHF - news) (WMH) 361.20p -2.98% AL Noor Hospitals Group (ANH) 870.00p -2.52% St. Modwen Properties (SMP) 443.00p -2.14% Laird (LRD) 349.50p -2.05% Interserve (IRV) 574.00p -2.05% Savills (SVS) 820.00p -2.03% International Public Partnerships Ltd. (INPP) 136.40p -1.94%