Mining and banking stocks were topping the leader board on Thursday afternoon after Mario Draghi revealed details of the European Central Bank (ECB's) bond-buying plan.

"On a day that many traders would have been looking towards in their diaries this week it would appear that the detail that was needed in exactly how the ECB would tackle the crisis was finally made available," said sales trader Matthew Nelson.

Evraz, Polymetal, Vedanta, Antofagasta, Randgold and ENRC were among the best performing resource stocks today and Lloyds and Barclays led the banks on hopes over the global economy.

Helping gains today for miners were gold futures which jumped to $1,716.90 the highest level since March.

On the second-tier index, South Africa-focused platinum miner Lonmin rose strongly on reports that it has reached a 'peace accord' with its striking miners following a wave of protests over the last few weeks which resulted in the deaths of around 40 people.


Top performing sectors so far today
Industrial Metals & Mining 2,363.54 +5.96%
Mining 17,835.77 +4.15%
Banks 3,734.61 +3.74%
Life Insurance 4,673.66 +3.64%
Construction & Materials 3,305.09 +3.31%

Bottom performing sectors so far today
Personal Goods 20,083.99 -0.99%

BC

Related share prices
Lonmin (LMI) share price
Antofagasta (ANTO) share price
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) share price
Vedanta Resources (VED) share price
Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) share price
Polymetal International (POLY) share price
Evraz (EVR) share price