FTSE: 6,055.75 (+48.38) Mid-250: 11,726.19 (+66.77) Small Cap: 3,278.88 (+7.11):LONDON EQUITIES rose yester- day, with resurgent metals prices once more helping resource stocks energise the FTSE 100.

The benchmark index rose 48 points to 6,055.75, a rise of 0.8 per cent, giving it weekly gains of 0.8 per cent.

Copper, lead, nickel and tin all increased in London trading.

Basic-resource shares in the Stoxx Europe 600 Index gained 1.9 per cent, the biggest climb among the gauge’s 19 industry groups. Scottish and Southern rose 2.3 per cent to 1,312p.

The company’s profits will probably increase as ageing UK coal and gas-fired power plants close, driving up retail power prices, according to Credit Suisse analysts.

Games Workshop jumped 13 per cent Anglo American, Rio Tinto, Xstrata and BHP Billiton were the leading four shares, all with gains of more than 2.7 per cent. Mexican silver miner Fresnillo came in at number five, up 2.4 per cent to £16.45 thanks to rising precious metals prices.

Vedanta Resources was 1.5 per cent stronger at £24.48 after the metals producer reported record zinc and aluminium output in the fourth quarter. Refined zinc output from its core Indian mines reached 194,000 tonnes in the period.

Vodafone, one of the most actively traded stocks on the market, eased 0.6 per cent to 176.4p on profit taking.

Having earlier climbed as high as 179.4p after analysts at JPMorgan raised their price target on the stock from 200p to 225p and repeated their “overweight” rating.

Icap, the world’s largest listed interdealer broker by market value, fell 3.9 per cent to 519.3p after analysts at Credit Suisse cut their rating on the stock from “neutral” to “underperform”, saying it looked “fully valued”.

Intertek fell 0.9 per cent at £20.47 after analysts at JPMorgan cut their rating on the stock in the safety testing company from “overweight” to “neutral”.

The FTSE 250 rose 67 points to 11,726.19, a rise of 0.6 per cent, with mid-cap financial stocks staying strong, helped by robust readings on world equity indices.

Premier Foods, the maker of Hovis bread and Bisto gravy powder, gained 4.2 per cent to 31.1p after analysts at Investec raised their price target on the stock from 22p to 35p. –(Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2011