Rio puts a brave face on poor numbers

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Rio Tinto tried to look on the bright side yesterday when it said that China's economy will soon zoom ahead again.

The FTSE 100 mining giant's first-half underlying earnings fell to $5.2 bn (£3.3 bn) from $7.7 bn a year before, off sales down 13 per cent to $25.3 bn.

Rio was hit as China was forced to curb its appetite for copper. But its numbers were better than expected and shares rose 89.5p to 3,220.0p.

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