A positive rights issue result, and some words of support from a leading broker, boosted GKN, the engineering group, which rose by 6.8 per cent last night.

Outlook China must be careful as the fall-out from the collapse of the deal between Rio Tinto and Chinalco continues to rain down, not least on those still trying to negotiate on a market price for iron ore.

BHP Billiton managed to stay afloat despite weakness in the wider market last night, as Investec weighed in, moving its recommendation on the stock to "buy" from "hold".

BP's two-year hunt to fill one of Britain's most prestigious corporate jobs ended today with the appointment of Carl-Henric Svanberg as chairman.

Shares in Anglo American jumped as much as 12 per cent today after rival Xstrata sought talks about a merger of equals to better compete in a consolidating mining sector.

Logica bucked a weak market trend last night, rising by almost 5 per cent after a leading broker weighed in with some words of support.

Outlook That it is possible to patronise what is the world's third largest economy seems faintly odd somehow, but this is exactly what has been happening in the 10 days or so since the deal between Rio Tinto and Chinalco collapsed.

Outlook Now do keep up. A year is a long time in politics, to misquote Harold Wilson's famous remark, but it seems to be a positive aeon in the mining industry. Fast back 12 months and the commodities sector was still booming, with prices at record highs and Rio Tinto confident in its rejection of a generously valued bid from BHP Billiton.

Rio Tinto has agreed to slash its iron prices by a third for Japan's steel mills, putting the miner on a collision course with Chinese customers fighting for a much larger discount.

Rio Tinto's tempestuous tie-up with Chinalco took another turn yesterday as the dual-listed miner's Australian shareholders called for changes to the controversial deal and sources claimed the Chinese group was close to a new plan.

Major Rio Tinto shareholders would prefer a tie-up with its rival BHP Billiton to the miner's controversial $19.5bn (£12.8bn) deal with the Chinese state-owned Chinalco.