Bring me sunshine: FTSE 100 starts the day on a springlike note as miners bounce back
Markets were clearly taking note of the weather this morning, with the FTSE 100 jumping almost 1.3 per cent to 6,183.8 points in the first minutes of trading.
The market was pushed higher miners, who swung back from yesterday's losses to lead the FTSE.
Anglo American rose 7.9 per cent to 516.4p, while BHP Billiton rose six per cent to 794.7p, and Rio Tinto rose 5.7 per cent to 1,969p.
Read more: What $20 oil would mean for the global economy
At the other end of the market, Marks and Spencer fell 1.2 per cent to 399.5p.
Connor Campbell, financial analyst at Spreadex, said miners and oil firms had been pushed up by a recovery in oil: Brent Crude bounced back from yesterday's four per cent drop to rise 1.5 per cent, hovering around $39.50 per barrel this morning.
But he added that the market will remain sensitive to oil price swings throughout the day.
"It is likely that the FTSE will be reliant on its commodity stocks as Wednesday continues, a light day of data leaving the UK index with little non-oil driven direction.
"The pound continued to climb back towards its recent post-Boris Brexit bomb highs this morning, the lingering effects of [Janet] Yellen’s dovish comments allowing cable to creep towards $1.445 despite a string of increasingly tight EU referendum polls revealed yesterday," he added.
"Of course, for all its early growth the pound remains reliant on dollar-weakness rather than its own strength, any Brexit-leaning news likely to knock it from its current precarious perch as the day continues."
[stockChart code="UKX" date="2016-03-30 09:09"]