Commodities, banks drive FTSE higher

Britain's leading shares pushed higher on Tuesday, led by rallying commodity stocks and banks as investors awaited a vote of confidence in the Greek Parliament. The vote, due after the London market close, is seen as a key step towards the passage of more spending cuts in exchange for foreign emergency loans.
"What equity markets need is a bit of good news or even some relief from the sheer dreariness of the eurozone's sovereign debt crisis and Greece's financial odyssey," said Mike Lenhoff, market strategist at Brewin Dolphin. "A vote of confidence for Mr Papandreou and his government might be the catalyst that helps equity markets to regain their footing," he added.
At the close, the FTSE 100 index was up 81.92 points, or 1.4 percent at 5,775.31, recovering the previous session's losses, although trading was thin, at just 68 percent of the average 90-day volume. Energy issues were the top blue chip sector gainers as crude prices rose, with BG Group ahead 2.7 percent. BP added 3.7 percent after Weatherford, which provided equipment used in the Macondo oil well, agreed to pay $75 million toward the cost of the Gulf of Mexico spill.
Miners also rebounded as metal prices ticked up, with Chilean copper miner Antofagasta ahead 5.1 percent Banks lent their strength to the blue chip index as well, with Barclays up 2.5 percent, while global heavyweight HSBC added 0.9 percent. Whitbread was the top FTSE 100 gainer, up 6.9 percent after Britain's biggest hotel and coffee shop operator said its London operations had performed strongly in recent weeks.
Cruises operator Carnival got a boost from better-than-expected second-quarter results, adding 6.0 percent. Wolseley rose 4.3 percent as ING upgraded its rating for the building supplies firm to "buy". On the downside, brewer SABMiller was the top blue chip faller, down 3.6 percent after rival Australian firm Foster's Group rejected its A$9.5 billion ($10.1 billion) cash take-over offer.
Defensively-perceived water blue chips were also weak, with United Utilities down 0.8 percent, as Goldman Sachs cut target prices and estimates in a sector review. "The rotation into defensives in Europe may have been a feature of last week. We favour the non-cyclicals until sovereign risk abates, the manufacturing data turns and Chinese inflation peaks," said strategists at RBS in a note.
Domestic macroeconomic news was mixed. British factory orders were stronger than expected in June, but Britain ran up a record budget deficit in the first two months of the fiscal year. But US data was supportive, with a smaller than expected decline in May existing home sales helping US blue chips add 1.0 percent by London's close.