Friday morning market opening

Jun 5 2009 By nebusiness

MINERS soared higher today after Rio Tinto announced it was scrapping its 19.5 billion US dollar (£12.1 billion) deal with China’s Chinalco in favour of a venture with rival BHP Billiton.

Shares in Rio and BHP leapt around 10% after the news, which will also see Rio launch a 15.2 billion dollar (£9.5 billion) rights issue after shunning the Chinalco investment.

Heavily-weighted miners lifted across the board, helping the FTSE 100 Index rise 73.5 points to 4460.5 within the first hour.

Rio rose 278p to 2998p and its new joint venture partner - and former suitor - BHP lifted 122p to 1578p.

The move to merge their Western Australia iron ore assets is expected to save the two firms some 10 billion dollars (£6.2 billion)

Banks were also clawing back losses seen earlier this week, with Barclays ahead 3%, or 7p to 273p and Lloyds Banking Group up 1.4p at 68.5p ahead of what promises to be a bruising annual general meeting in Glasgow later today.

In corporate news, confirmation from FTSE 250 firm Carphone Warehouse that its demerger will complete by next July saw the group add 6.75p to 179.25p.

Housebuilder Bellway fell 1p to 657p despite announcing signs of a stabilisation in house prices and plans to start snapping up land again, on a selective basis.