Market Report: Anglo American racks up its biggest rise since 2008

The FTSE 100’s biggest faller in 2015 has surged 31.5p or 14 per cent to 262.95p

Anglo American is the world’s largest platinum producer (Getty Images)

There’s life in the old dog yet. Anglo American, the FTSE 100’s biggest faller in 2015 after an 80 per cent crash, racked up its biggest rise since 2008, surging 31.5p or 14 per cent to 262.95p.

The resurgence came as the prices of battered industrial metals including copper rallied, while there were also reports that South32, the group spun out of BHP Billiton last year, is interested in the group’s phosphate and niobium business in Brazil.

Anglo has confirmed plans to sell the assets, which could fetch as much as $1bn (£700m) and help the company trim its huge debt pile. However, analysts at Investec remain unconvinced: “We would be surprised if S32 do this deal, as while they already have exposure in Brazil, this would be new commodities added to their portfolio.”

The mining rally also boosted Glencore, the second-worst blue-chip performer last year, up 6.75p at 78.62p. The trader cum miner, said to be in talks with bidders over the $1bn sale of its Lomas Bayas copper mine in Chile, launched an early refinancing of one of its main credit facilities, which supports the trading arm.

BHP Billiton joined the rally, up 37.4p or 6 per cent to 657p, helped by upgrades from brokers Citigroup and Morgan Stanley.

Oil companies got in on the action as Brent crude jumped 57 cents or 1.9 per cent to $30.88 a barrel, providing investors with a ray of hope that it might be able to stay above $30 for the time being. That lifted BP 11.85p to 347.7p and Shell 44.5p to 1,390p.

The natural resources recovery took the edge off the FTSE 100’s early falls – it was down 130 points at one stage – and the index clawed back losses to finish down 42.74 at 5,918.23.

In a busy day of retail reporting, Booker Group, the UK’s biggest cash-and- carry operator, was 7.3p down at 159.3p, its worst day in more than a year. Third-quarter like-for-like sales fell 3.1 per cent, with a ban on displaying cigarettes in small stores blamed for the slide.

Meanwhile on AIM, the online video advertising firm Blinkx, which was spun out of Autonomy, surged 4.25p or 27 per cent to 19.75p as it said third-quarter earnings were ahead of expectations, helping it to break even.