LONDON: UK shares were set to continue their October rally, with miners pushing Britain's blue-chip index higher on the back of Thursday's dovish minutes from the US Federal Reserve.
Britain's FTSE index was up 66.90 points, or 1.1 percent at 6,441.72 points at 1058 GMT, up 5.1 percent for the week and set for its biggest weekly gain since December 2011.
Miner Glencore topped the list of gainers, rising 11.1 percent after it said it would cut 500,000 tonnes of zinc production, or around 4 percent of global supply, in its latest move to counter weak commodities prices.
It is now up over 40 percent this week and set for its biggest weekly rise ever. Glencore, the world's largest producer of zinc, has already taken measures aimed at cutting its $30 billion debt pile by a third.
"The zinc output cut means less revenue for Glencore but was seen as a positive step by the company to reduce its worryingly high debt pile," said Jasper Lawler, market analyst at CMC Markets. As zinc prices surged, other metals prices also rallied, helping miners Anglo American, Antofagasta and BHP Billiton, up between 3.6 and 6.5 percent.
The FTSE 350 mining index was up 4.9 percent.
Analysts cited the minutes of the Fed's September meeting as encouraging investors to get back into equities.
The minutes showed that the Fed had been deeply wary of hiking rates even before subsequent economic data showed a sharp slowdown in hiring by US employers.
"So dovish was the tenor of the minutes that I don't even think a rate hike in 2015 is a serious option, and indeed the market seems to agree with that," Jeremy Batstone-Carr, analyst at Charles Stanley, said, adding that market pricing suggested the first US rate hike would take place next March.
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