London rises ahead of G20 leaders' meeting to sort out EU debt crisis

FTSE: 5,484.10 (+62.53) Mid-250: 10,251.65 (+84.05) Small Cap: 2,844.13 (+16.28):UK STOCKS rose yesterday, rebounding from the biggest three-day drop since September, before leaders from the Group of 20 meet in France to tackle Europe's debt crisis.

The FTSE 100 Index rose 1.2 per cent in London, after earlier falling 0.7 per cent.

“So often in the past we’ve seen markets rally ahead of important meetings,” said Angus Campbell, head of sales at Capital Spreads in London.

“Today is a classic example of optimistic buying ahead of a major meeting of global leaders,” he said.

The FTSE 100 had tumbled 5.1 per cent over the previous three days as investors awaited details of how euro-area leaders will fund the expansion of the region’s rescue fund to €1 trillion and as Greek prime minister George Papandreou called a referendum on the latest bailout.

Policy makers held emergency talks on the eve of the G20 summit in Cannes, France, and may tell Mr Papandreou there is no alternative to budget cuts imposed in the bailout plan agreed last week.

Randgold rallied 7.4 per cent to 7,235p after the company forecast a 22 per cent increase in gold production next year as output in Mali and Ivory Coast rises.

The shares also advanced as gold gained for the first time in four sessions in New York with European debt concerns spurring demand for the metal as a protection of wealth.

Fresnillo, which produces silver and gold, jumped 7.7 per cent to 1,783p.

Antofagasta, which reported a 17 per cent jump in third-quarter copper output yesterday, rallied 5.4 per cent to 1,174p and Xstrata rose 4.1 per cent to 1,016p.

BHP Billiton, the world’s largest mining company, advanced 1.9 per cent to 1,952p.

Next rallied 6.5 per cent to 2,723p. The UK’s second-largest clothing retailer reported faster sales growth in the third quarter.

Total brand sales rose 3.3 per cent, excluding value-added tax, more than the first half’s 3.2 per cent gain and beating the median analyst estimate of 1.4 per cent.

ARM rose 2.6 per cent to 587p after Hewlett-Packard demonstrated servers using the UK company’s technology, departing from its long standing use of Intel’s chips.

Lloyds paced declining shares, falling 4.4 per cent to 29.21p. – (Bloomberg)