At the close of business, the FTSE100 was up 31.41 points at 5,092.33 with the FTSE250 off 25.54 points at 9,010.37 and the FTSE Smallcaps 13 points lower at 2,761.18.

NEW YORK

US stocks were just slightly higher in late morning trade, investors wary on concerns over European sovereign debt problems and US proposals on bank regulation.

Approaching the close in London, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 4 points at 10,016, the S&P500 gained 4 points at 1,070 and the Nasdaq Composite edged up 9 points at 2,150.

LONDON MARKETS

The miners dictated direction today, starting and ending the session strongly and offsetting weakness in financial issues and commercial property concerns.

Randgold Resources surged 271p to 4,480p on reporting a 79% increase in profit for the year to end-December to $84.3m, against the prior year $47m, on the back of record production at its flagship Loulo operation. The group's Q4 profit of $38.7m was up 185% quarter-on-quarter and 315% up on 2008. The dividend was hiked 30%. Silver miner Fresnillo closed up 35.5p at 705p.

Xstrata was also in big demand after revealing better-than-expected operating EBITDA of $7bn in the year to end-December 2009 and resuming its dividend. The shares closed 33.8p higher at 983.8p.

Others in the sector joined the move forward, with BHP Billiton up 32.5p at 1,857p and Rio Tinto 29.5p higher at 3,065.5p.

Also on the upside, interdealer broker ICAP rallied 9.7p at 303.7p following its fall from grace Friday after a profit warning.

Oil producers rallied as crude headed over the $71.50 a barrel level, with Shell gaining 24.5p at 1,680p and BP up 3p at 563p.

Explorer Tullow Oil edged up a penny at 1,158p, on confirmation that ENI International has terminated its agreement with Heritage in Uganda after Tullow's exercise of a pre-emption right, making progress on a deal appear easier.

Power companies were buoyant, with International Power jumping 6.7p at 320.6p in reaction to weekend press reports that GDF Suez may make an improved offer. Centrica was up 2.6p at 266.5p and National Grid 2.5p higher at 629p.

London Stock Exchange ticked up 9.5p at 640p after reporting the average daily value traded across its equity markets in January increased 14% year-on-year to £7.1bn.

Household goods conglomerates Unilever and Reckitt Benckiser made strides higher, up 26p at 1,844p and 24p at 3,154p, respectively.

Cigarette makers were to the fore with BAT ahead 48p at 2,102p and Imperial Tobacco 35p higher at 2,061p.

The drinks industry was also well represented on the leaderboard, with Diageo gaining 10p at 1,010p and SABMiller 49p better at 1,699p.

After a promising start, financial issues became a burden, with insurers prevalent on the losers list and Legal & General the worst of them, down 2.6p at 71.05p. Prudential slipped 14p at 560.5p, Standard Life lost 1.1p at 193.1p and Aviva slid 9.4p at 355.7p.

Among the banks, Lloyds was the weakest link, off 1.11p at 47.2p, while Royal Bank of Scotland edged down 0.12p at 32.75p after announcing completion of the ABN AMRO legal demerger in the Netherlands. Barclays lost 1p at 268p and Standard Chartered dipped 2.5p at 1,403p.

British Airways dipped 7p at 199p when Standard & Poor's lowered its long-term corporate credit rating on the carrier to BB- from BB today.

Commercial property concerns were on offer, with British Land off 7.5p at 438.1p ahead of numbers tomorrow, Land Securities 9p lower at 622p and Liberty International falling 10p at 446.7p.

Story provided by Business Financial Newswire