A survey of ten leading market commentators by a national newspaper revealed that only one pundit was expecting Footsie to end 2012 below the level it started at, and although it is a marathon not a sprint, the year has at least got off to a good start, with the blue-chip index racing ahead, paced by miners.

The mineral extractors are going well after moderately encouraging manufacturing data from China. China's official purchasing managers' index (PMI) rose to 50.3 in December from 49 in November; a value above 50 indicates an expansion in business activity.

UK economic data was less cheery, with UK business confidence on economic prospects diving in December to its lowest level since January 2009, according to a survey by Lloyds Bank Corporate Markets.

The bank's index retreated to -23 in December from -20 in November.

Company news is thin on the ground, as might be expected. A bitter legal battle appears to be brewing between FTSE 100 mining firm Anglo American and the Chilean, state-owned copper miner Codelco. Anglo says it has received a letter from Codelco seeking to exercise an option to buy a 49% stake in Anglo American Sur, a huge copper mining plant in Chile that Anglo has spent billions upgrading. On December 22nd, Anglo filed a legal complaint for breach of contract over what it describes as an "illegitimate premature attempt to exercise the option." Both firms say they are willing to work to a negotiated settlement.

Support services firm Carillion has kicked off 2012 with a contract on the Birmingham section of the M6 motorway. The £104.9m contract is to transform the section of the M6 between junctions 5 and 8 into a so-called managed motorway. Managed motorways use various technological features combined with new operating procedures to actively control traffic flow. This includes variable mandatory speed limits and opening up the hard shoulder to traffic to reduce congestion and improve journey times and safety.

African oil producer Afren said end-year production at its Ebok, Okoro and Côte d'Ivoire operations has topped previous guidance. As a result of the ramp up in production at the Ebok field, off the coast of Nigeria, aggregate net working interest production attributable to Afren has reached a rate of circa 55,400 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd). A production rate above the year-end target of 50,000 boepd has been sustained since 19 December 2011 from the Ebok, Okoro and Côte d'Ivoire operations.

Sticking with African energy firms, Ophir Energy has started its 2012 drilling programme in Tanzania with the drill-ship Odfjell Metro-1. The first three wells in the programme will be Jodari-1, Mzia-1 (previously named 1W) and Papa-1 (previously named 3A), the company revealed.

Yellow Pages publisher Yell has appointed Matt Anderson to the new role of chief strategy and business development officer. Yell, once a member of the FTSE 100, said Anderson will provide leadership for the company's corporate strategy and business development for strategic partnerships.

On the broker front, French banking group SocGen has given the thumbs up to energy giant BG Group while Bank of America has upgraded retail bellwether Marks & Spencer.

FTSE 100 - Risers
Xstrata (XTA) 1,017.00p +3.99%
GKN (GKN) 190.10p +3.88%
Kazakhmys (KAZ) 963.00p +3.88%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 3,241.50p +3.73%
Barclays (BARC) 182.60p +3.72%
Admiral Group (ADM) 881.00p +3.40%
Pearson (PSON) 1,251.00p +3.39%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,256.00p +3.37%
Legal & General Group (LGEN) 106.00p +3.11%
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 1,193.00p +3.11%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
Royal Dutch Shell 'A' (RDSA) 2,377.50p +0.27%
Amec (AMEC) 910.00p +0.28%
Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 304.40p +0.50%
Shire Plc (SHP) 2,257.00p +0.62%
Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 2,470.50p +0.67%
SSE (SSE) 1,300.00p +0.70%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 1,413.00p +0.78%
National Grid (NG.) 630.00p +0.80%
Imperial Tobacco Group (IMT) 2,458.00p +0.94%
Wolseley (WOS) 2,153.00p +0.98%

FTSE 250 - Risers
Talvivaara Mining Company (TALV) 216.60p +8.30%
Afren (AFR) 92.10p +7.47%
Cable & Wireless Worldwide (CW.) 17.19p +5.78%
Heritage Oil (HOIL) 202.50p +5.19%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
Perform Group (PER) 200.00p -3.85%
Bwin.party Digital Entertainment (BPTY) 160.40p -2.20%
Telecom Plus (TEP) 757.00p -2.07%

--
jh

Related share prices
Anglo American (AAL) share price
BG Group (BG.) share price
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) share price
Carillion (CLLN) share price
Yell Group (YELL) share price
Xstrata (XTA) share price
Afren (AFR) share price
Ophir Energy (OPHR) share price