Anglo leads the charge after iron ore rallies

London’s blue-chip index pushed higher yesterday as resources stocks raced ahead on the back of rising commodity prices.

The FTSE 100 Index closed up 20.23 points to 7,531.94, with Anglo American leading the charge after iron ore prices rallied in China in response to falling inventories and rising demand.

Shares in Anglo rose more than 3%, or 39.5p to 1,310p, while Glencore climbed 8.8p to 346.6p and Rio Tinto was 91p higher at 3,637p.

Connor Campbell, financial analyst at Spreadex, said: “After flagging around lunchtime the FTSE stole a bit of buzz from the US open to climb 0.2%, rehitting 7,530 in the process.

“The UK index isn’t too far off its own all-time high, though with such a dreary week on the cards it may need another sharp drop from the pound to propel it back to those levels.”

Across Europe, Germany’s Dax drifted 0.3% lower while the Cac 40 in France was flat.

In currency, the strong US dollar kept the pound stuck in the red despite positive economic data on UK house prices.

Sterling was down 0.2% at 1.302 versus the greenback, with Halifax’s monthly index showing prices rose 0.4% in July, a bounce back from the 0.9% decline recorded in June.

Prices in the three months to July were 2.1% higher than in the same three months last year, but this was down from 2.6% in June and is the lowest annual rate of growth since April 2013.

The UK currency was also struggling against the euro, down 0.3% at 1.104.

On the oil markets, Brent crude gave up early gains, sinking 1.7% to $51.54 a barrel.