U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index Climbs; Rio Tinto, BHP Advance on Metals

By Adam Haigh

Nov. 11 (Bloomberg) -- U.K. stocks advanced as raw-material producers were boosted by reports showing China’s industrial production and trade surplus climbed and earnings at J Sainsbury Plc topped estimates.

Rio Tinto Group and BHP Billiton Ltd. rose more than 2.5 percent as metals prices advanced in London. Sainsbury added 2.4 percent after pretax profit at the U.K.’s second biggest supermarket owner beat estimates.

The benchmark FTSE 100 Index gained 42.88, or 0.8 percent, to 5,273.43 as of 8:27 a.m. in London. The gauge has surged 49 percent from the lowest level this year on March 3 amid signs that government stimulus policies and record-low interest rates are helping to drag the global economy out of recession. The FTSE All-Share Index added 0.8 percent today and Ireland’s ISEQ Index advanced 0.2 percent.

BHP Billiton, the world’s largest mining company, gained 2.5 percent to 1,814 pence. Rio Tinto Group, the third biggest, increased 2.9 percent to 3,132.5 pence. Copper, lead, nickel, and tin prices rose on the London Metal Exchange.

Gold climbed to a record in London and New York as the dollar fell for a third day, spurring demand for the metal as a hedge against further weakness.

Production in China, the world’s third-largest economy, rose 16.1 percent from a year earlier, the most since March 2008. The trade surplus almost doubled from September, to $24 billion, as the slide in exports eased to the slowest pace this year, the statistics bureau said in Beijing today.

Sainsbury added 2.4 percent to 335.3 pence. Pretax profit before one-time items rose 18.5 percent to 307 million pounds, beating the 302 million-pound median estimate of 11 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

International Power Plc jumped 4.2 percent to 268 pence after saying free cash flow in 2009 will be “significantly ahead” of last year.

To contact the reporter on this story: Adam Haigh in London at ahaigh1@bloomberg.net.