FTSE 100 ends higher as miners track gains in commodity prices

London's FTSE 100 ended higher on Thursday as heavyweight mining stocks tracked rising metal prices, while the mid-cap index scaled record highs as investors bet on a faster economic recovery.

The blue-chip index ended up 0.8pc, with Anglo American one of the biggest boosts to the index, gaining 3.2pc on plans to spin off its thermal coal assets in South Africa.

The domestically focussed mid-cap FTSE 250 index closed 0.4pc higher, as faster vaccinations and lower coronavirus cases boosted confidence in a faster economic rebound.

The swift rollout of COVID-19 vaccines in England resulted in a steep drop in infection rates in March, a closely watched survey showed.

"The strong performance of the FTSE 250 should be a tailwind for active managers as a whole, as a result of their additional exposure to this area," said Laith Khalaf, financial analyst at AJ Bell.

"They (midcaps) are small enough that they still have room to grow, but large enough that they are established businesses with existing customer bases."

Globally, investor sentiment was upbeat after the U.S. Federal Reserve underlined its commitment to keeping policy super loose even during a rapid economic recovery.

FTSE 100 is set to record its biggest weekly gain since early January and is up 7.5pc so far this year on speedy vaccine rollouts, dovish central bank policies and economic optimism.

British companies sharply stepped up hiring and offered higher pay to new staff last month as they grew more confident about an economic recovery and prepared for COVID-19 restrictions to ease, a recruiters body said on Thursday.

Among other stocks, Johnson Matthey gained 1.5pc as the company began a strategic review of its health business, while Lookers jumped 14.8pc after the auto retailer forecast 2021 underlying profit before tax to be materially ahead of analysts' estimates.