LONDON: UK shares opened in positive territory on Monday, led by a rise in commodity-related stocks which tracked metals prices higher, though housebuilders fell on concerns surrounding Britain's June 23 referendum on its membership of the European Union.
The blue chip FTSE 100 index rose 0.7 percent to 6,252.54 points by 0824 GMT, outperforming the broader European market.
Mining stocks Anglo American, Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton, Antofagasta and Glencore all rallied between 4.2 percent to 7.2 percent after the price of copper hit a four-week high.
A falling dollar lent support to metals prices following Friday's shock miss in May's U.S. jobs data, which could make it harder for the U.S. Federal Reserve to raise interest rates.
Britain's mining sector was up 4.9 percent, set for its biggest daily gain in over a month.
"The mining companies will continue to trade from headline to headline, and the latest headline is that it is a weaker dollar and stronger commodities, and that's really driving early trade," Jonathan Roy, advisory investment manager at Charles Hanover Investments, said.
Among the top fallers, however, British housebuilding stocks Berkeley Group, Persimmon, Barratt Developments and Talor Wimpey all fell between 1.4 percent to 1.9 percent after two opinion polls showed that Britain's Out campaign to leave the EU was in the lead.
Brexit-related concerns also weighed on the domestically-focused FTSE 250, which was down 0.1 percent.
"We're in the final stages of the Brexit debate now, and anything with a strong UK exposure is starting to come under a bit of pressure from traders that are looking at stocks ... that will see significant downside if there is a vote to leave the EU," Charles Hanover Investments' Roy said.
Pharmaceuticals company Indivior fell over 10 percent with a trader citing a broker downgrade on the stock. Indivior had risen over 36 percent on Friday after winning a patent ruling on its main product, heroin substitute Suboxane Film.
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