MW: British shares reach 15-month high ahead of holiday
FTSE 100 index up 0.3%; BHP Billiton and Anglo American advance
By Sarah Turner, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- British stocks tentatively built on recent gains to reach a 15-month high on Thursday, with miners helping the advance in a holiday-shortened trading session.
The U.K. FTSE 100 index (UK:UKX 5,388, +15.24, +0.28%) rose 0.3%, or 13.65 points, to 5,385.93, moving over the 5,382.67 closing high for 2009 it hit on Nov. 16.
The next closing-high hurdle for the FTSE 100 is 5,416.73. It traded at this level on Sep. 12, 2008 -- the Friday before the collapse of U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers and subsequent turmoil in the financial markets.
The British stock market and several Continental equity markets shut early on Thursday for the Christmas break with London due to close at 12.30 p.m. GMT.
Shares trading in the rest of Europe were also in a tight range on Thursday, while U.S. stock futures were pointing to mild gains on Wall Street. See Europe Markets.
Thursday's advance for the FTSE 100 index extends a three-session run of gains for the index and brings year-to-date gains to more than 21%.
Miners have performed strongly this year and were higher again on Thursday, with BHP Billiton (UK:BLT 1,968, +22.50, +1.16%) (BHP 75.24, +1.97, +2.69%) shares up 1.1% and Rio Tinto (UK:RIO 3,357, +60.50, +1.84%) (RTP 211.85, +4.05, +1.95%) shares up 1.9%.
The gains for the sector came as metals futures advanced, with gold futures up $10.50 at $1,104.50 an ounce.
Light-sweet-crude-oil futures were up 34 cents at $77.01 a barrel in electronic trading and sterling traded up 0.3% at $1.6007 against the dollar in the currency markets.
Still, gains for the top London index were kept in check as some banks and insurance companies pared recent gains.
RSA Insurance Group (UK:RSA 119.50, -1.10, -0.91%) shares were down 1.2% and shares of banking giant HSBC Holdings (UK:HSBA 710.70, -3.60, -0.50%) (HBC 57.07, +0.43, +0.76%) lost 0.6%.
