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Wall Street's battle back to 10,000 less than an hour before London closed gave shares enough ammunition to stage a late rally.

The day finished as it started, with miners driving gains.

West Africa-focused gold miner Randgold Resources set the pace and held top spot all day. It hiked the dividend by 30% after fourth quarter profits soared to £38.7m from £9.3m and gold sales jumped to £139.2m from £78.1m.

Xstrata attracted extra interest as the session ended despite reporting an 81% plunge in profit before tax to $661m in 2009 after exceptional items almost doubled to $2.1bn. Profit before one-offs fell 41% to $2.77bn on revenue down 16% to $23.5bn.

A final dividend of 8c a share reflects confidence in the firm's near and medium term prospects and financial position, it said.

Silver miner Fresnillo, platinum specialist Lonmin and Kazakhstan-based pair Eurasian Natural Resources and Kazakhmys, all headed north as a weaker dollar pushed commodity prices higher.

Anglo American joined the party. It will take up its full entitlement to the rights issue announced today by subsidiary, Anglo Platinum, costing a cool $1.3bn.

Sticking with natural resources, oils remained mixed despite a recovery in crude prices to around $72 a barrel. Shell and BP were better, but Cairn and BG struggled.

Elsewhere, interdealer broker ICAP clawed back a little of the losses suffered Friday when a profit warning shocked the market. Rival Tullet Prebon is up as well.

International Power is also in demand on rumours French utility GDF Suez is putting together a fresh bid. Last month, the UK energy firm admitted previous merger talks had come to nothing.

Financials were out of sorts though. Insurers Legal & General, Prudential, Aviva and Resolution, big investors in equities, were especially poor following the recent slump in global stock markets.

Elsewhere, Spanish banking giant Santander is reportedly mulling a flotation of its British operations on the London Stock Exchange. If the plans are to go ahead, the demerged business would go straight into the FTSE 100 with a value of more than £15bn, according to a report in the Sunday Times. The money could be used to buy parts of Royal Bank of Scotland, reports today suggested.

Property developer St Modwen Properties posted a decline in full year revenue and widening losses as property values continued to suffer. However the group said it was confident that 2010 will see the company returning to growth in profits and NAV.

Shares in aim listed CCTV company Petards flew off the shelf after it said profit before tax for the full year is set to come in higher than market expectations. Cash generation in the second half was also stronger than expected due to lower working capital.

BATM Advanced Communications, which supplies broadband data and telecommunications systems and medical laboratory equipment, posted a fall in profits in the year to 31 December as subdued economic conditions kept revenues flat.


FTSE 100 - Risers
Randgold Resources (RRS) 4,480.00p +6.44%
Fresnillo (FRES) 705.00p +5.30%
Xstrata (XTA) 983.80p +3.56%
ICAP (IAP) 303.70p +3.30%
SABMiller (SAB) 1,699.00p +2.97%
Kazakhmys (KAZ) 1,240.00p +2.73%
Lonmin (LMI) 1,783.00p +2.71%
Eurasian Natural Resources (ENRC) 907.00p +2.43%
British American Tobacco (BATS) 2,102.00p +2.34%
Anglo American (AAL) 2,325.50p +2.26%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
Legal & General Group (LGEN) 71.05p -3.53%
British Airways (BAY) 199.00p -3.40%
Aviva (AV.) 355.70p -2.57%
Prudential (PRU) 560.50p -2.44%
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 47.20p -2.31%
Liberty International (LII) 446.70p -2.19%
Resolution (RSL) 77.00p -1.97%
British Land Co (BLND) 438.10p -1.68%
BG Group (BG.) 1,094.50p -1.57%
Next (NXT) 1,882.00p -1.52%

FTSE 250 - Risers
Ecofin Water & Power Opportunities (ECWO) 132.00p +6.02%
Brewin Dolphin (BRW) 134.90p +3.85%
Tullett Prebon (TLPR) 272.00p +3.82%
Cranswick (CWK) 769.50p +3.29%
Dunelm Group (DNLM) 370.40p +3.18%
Scottish Inv Trust (SCIN) 413.00p +2.99%
Dunedin Income Growth Inv Trust (DIG) 178.00p +2.89%
Dechra Pharmaceuticals (DPH) 482.90p +2.70%
Murray Income Trust (MUT) 515.50p +2.69%
British Empire Securities & General Trust (BTEM) 405.50p +2.27%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
Northgate (NTG) 192.40p -7.19%
RPS Group (RPS) 172.50p -5.79%
Trinity Mirror (TNI) 137.90p -5.42%
Pace (PIC) 173.90p -4.13%
Moneysupermarket.com (MONY) 69.80p -3.72%
Punch Taverns (PUB) 80.45p -3.54%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 80.40p -3.48%
SDL International (SDL) 410.00p -3.19%
Evolution Group (EVG) 111.10p -3.14%
Morgan Crucible (MGCR) 159.80p -3.03%