U.K. Stocks Pare Losses; ENRC, Commodity Producers Advance

By Sarah Jones

Aug. 21 (Bloomberg) -- U.K. stocks pared losses, led by mining companies after Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. forecast a `strong' second half and base metals advanced.

Kazakhmys Plc and Antofagasta rose. Tullow Oil Plc led a rally in oil companies as the price of crude advanced.

The FTSE 100 Index gained 2.6, or less than 0.1 percent, to 5,374.4 in London at 12:47 p.m., having earlier dropped as much as 1.1 percent. The FTSE All-Share Index was little changed, while Ireland's ISEQ Index declined 1.6 percent.

ENRC rallied 2.6 percent to 1,054 pence after the world's third-largest ferrochrome producer said first-half profit more than tripled, beating analysts' estimates, as prices for the steelmaking raw material increased to a record.

The company added the second half will be ``very strong'' and doubled spending on an expansion to $6.9 billion.

Kazakhmys, Kazakhstan's largest copper producer, rose 4.3 percent to 1,314 pence. Antofagasta, owner of copper mines in Chile, added 1.4 percent to 566.5 pence.

Base metals including copper, nickel and tin rallied on the London Metal Exchange.

Tullow Oil, the U.K. explorer with the most exploration licenses in Africa, increased 3.9 percent to 770.5 pence.

Crude oil rallied above $117.35 a barrel on speculation Russian crude may be disrupted because of rising tensions with the U.S., and as the weaker dollar bolstered the hedging appeal of commodities.

To contact the reporter on this story: Sarah Jones in London at sjones35@bloomberg.net.