By Alistair Smout
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's top share index rose on Tuesday, buoyed by record-highs reached by Wall Street and a rally in mining shares.
The FTSE 100 (FTSE) ended up 0.6 percent. Traders cited renewed enthusiasm for equities after the three main U.S. indexes and small-cap Russell index all closed at record highs for the first time since December 1999. Wall Street again posted record highs at the open on Tuesday before paring gains.
The FTSE 100 remains in a tight trading range, which has persisted throughout November, and is down around 4 percent from the record high touched in October.
Mining stocks (FTNMX1770) rose 4 percent, among the top gainers, with Anglo American (L:AAL), BHP Billiton (L:BLT), Antofagasta (L:ANTO) and Glencore (L:GLEN) up 3 to 7.6 percent.
The sector is up nearly 5 percent since the election of Donald Trump as U.S. president spurred bets that his planned fiscal stimulus would spur inflation in the economy.
However, the FTSE's heavy weighting in defensive sectors that underperform during times of reflation has seen it stay in a 300-point range since the election.
"The FTSE has been in a small range over the last few weeks, having made new highs," said Atif Latif, director at Guardian Stockbrokers.
"The U.S. market has continued to rally since the election...and the commodity sector has been one of the strongest performers. But given this significant move, the FTSE appears to be in a consolidation phase."
Several companies fell after poorly received earnings reports.
Compass Group (L:CPG) fell 4.7 percent, after its results. Trading in the United States remained strong, but analysts said that it had fared less well in Europe and Britain, and its margins were unimpressive.
"Compass are to some extent suffering from the curse of being a well-run business with a great track record," analysts at Hargreaves Lansdown (LON:HRGV) said in a note.
"A strong performance in North America and currency tailwinds have boosted Compass’ results in the second half. However, a weaker than expected fourth quarter and flat margins have still sent the shares down in early trading."
Babcock (L:BAB) and Kingfisher (L:KGF) also dropped after results, down 4.6 percent and 3.1 percent respectively.
Babcock's update was encouraging, analysts said, and the stock did initially open higher. However, a comment on slower internal growth and concerns for the outsourcing services sector hit the stock.
Among mid-caps, Entertainment One (L:ETO) dropped 12 percent after it reported a fall in first-half profit.
TalkTalk (L:TALK) dropped 4.1 percent to its lowest since June 2012. It is down 20 percent since it reported results this time last week.
Rotork (L:ROR) rose 13 percent after the valve maker said it saw revenues at the top end of expectations, wrong-footing those that had bet on falls for the stock.
Bank BGEO Group (L:BGEO) rose 12 percent after reporting a 75 percent rise in profit.