At the close: FTSE 100 makes it four positive days on the bounce as commodity prices climb
A rebound in commodity prices gave a boost to the resources and energy heavy FTSE 100 today, moving it ahead of European markets.
The index rose by 16.99 points, or 0.3 per cent, to 6,285.21 points, making today its fourth positive session on the bounce.
Oil prices continued their recent rally, climbing to their highest price in around eight months.
US stockpile declines, as well as production disruption in Nigeria helped the price which pushed Brent crude to $52.35, while West Texas Intermediate hit $51.13.
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Heartening data coming out of China also gave traders hope Chinese demand is going to pick up.
Royal Dutch Shell added 2.5 per cent, adding to bigger gains earlier in the week.
Anglo American, Fresnillo, Rangold Resources, and Glencore all rose between four and five per cent after copper prices benefited from a weaker dollar and a rise in demand out of China in May.
The UK mining index rose 2.9 per cent, the top sectoral gainer.
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Aluminium and nickel prices also advanced. Antofagasta gained 2.6 per cent.
Elsewhere supermarket Sainsbury's finished a wild session up 1.6 per cent, after swing from positive to negative throughout the day.
The grocer reported a drop in quarterly underlying sales but did just about manage to beat analysts' average forecast. it warned it did not expect market conditions to improve any time soon.
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The market, which was has been riding a wave of positive data all week, was pushed higher by data showing industrial and manufacturing output grew at its fastest for nearly four years in April.