The FTSE 100 took a forward step on Thursdays open, albeit a small one, to remain close to the new highs for 2016.
London’s blue chip benchmark start as high as 6,425 before easing to about 6,410 by 8:30am.
Oil prices, at around US$45.80 (Brent), remain supportive of equity markets.
Anglo American was in focus in early deals, rising 2% to 809p, as the miner revealed its iron ore operation in Brazil nearly trebled output. Fellow miners Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) and BHP Billiton (LON:BLT) followed closely behind.
Minnow Strategic Minerals (LON:SML) was another miner celebrating.
It was top riser in London today, up 25.81% to 0.20p as it revealed planning of the maiden drilling programme at Hanns Camp nickel-copper sulphide prospect in Australia was underway.
Hanns Camp forms part of the Laverton Project, in which Strategic has a stake via its acquisition of up to 50% of Central Australian Rare Earths.
FTSE AIM 100 added 0.17% to 3,450, while the broader FTS AIM All share added 0.22% to 734.96.
Elsewhere, broadcaster Sky (LON:SKY) dropped 3.84% to 988.5p.
It revealed it won fewer new customers in the latest quarter than it had in the preceding three months but notched up a 5% increase in revenue to £8.7bn for the nine months to March.
Indeed, junior miners were doing well on the day. Goldstone Resources (LON:GRL) added over 15% top 2.03p, while copper miner Weatherly International (LON:WTI) gained 14.29% to stand at 0.60p.
Oil stocks were not doing so well.
US onshore focused Northcote Energy (LON:NCT) fell 30% to 0.04p after it announced late yesterday it had completed a placing of 1.59mln shares at 0.0315 pence to raise £500,000.
The cash will be used to complete the Mayan Drilling Fluids remediation plant while retaining adequate working capital and flexibility to consider other strategic opportunities available to the company.
Greka Drilling (LON:GDL) was also down over 11% to 4p each despite it managing to increase revenues in 2015 even with the well-documented travails of the oil and gas sector.
The Asia-focused independent and specialised unconventional oil & gas driller drilled 62 wells in 2015, up from 45 wells drilled in 2014.
Annual revenues rose to US$29.9mln in 2015 from US$24.4mln in 2014, while underlying earnings (EBITDA) rose to US$2.4mln from US$1.9mln,
Corero Network Security PLC (LON:CNS) fell 9.09% to 25p as it announced a fundraise alongside final results, which showed the company's decision to focus exclusively on the SmartWall TDS product was beginning to pay off.
Orders for the SmartWall TDS product in 2015 were up 186% to US$4.3mln from US$1.5mln in 2014
The firm said this morning it had conditionally placed 36.36mln shares at 22p a pop, raising £8mln in the process, and is seeking to raise an additional £1mln through an open offer to shareholders of 4.6mln shares on the basis of 1 new share for every 36 shares held, also at 22p a share.
FTSE 100 seen higher as equities stay close to 2016 highs - 7:00am
The FTSE 100 is expected to begin Thursday on the front foot, seen slightly higher about an hour ahead of the open in London.
Strengthening oil prices - Brent was up about 4% to US$45.85 - has helped keep equities close to current year highs.
Wall Street ended Wednesday positively. The Dow Jones was up 42 points, 0.24%, closing at 18,096 while the S&P 500 just about edged into plus territory to end the day at 2,102 and the Nasdaq was also a shade higher at 4,948.
In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei rose 2.4% to 17,309 while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 1.6% to 21,575.
The Shanghai composite, meanwhile, was essentially flat at 2,974.
Australia’s ASX 200 was up 0,85% to 5,261.
In London, spreadbetting and CFD firm IG Markets sees the FTSE 100 moving up. Ahead of Thursday’s open it calls the blue chip benchmark 12 points higher, at 6,425 to 6,430.
Focus is expected to remain on commodity prices, and the European Central Bank will also draw some investor attention as president Mario Draghi holds a press conference alongside the interest rate decision for April.
“The European Central Bank decision and press conference today may not be quite the event that it was in March but with the bazooka still warm following last month’s antics, Mario Draghi may instead see today as an opportunity to take some of the fizz out of the euro, something he failed to do previously,” Craig Erlam, analyst at OANDA, said in a note.