LONDON

London shares close firm, mining issues lend support; Wall Street closed UK blue chips closed up, albeit off session highs, with strength in mining issues the main prop for gains in London, and with volume thin on the ground as Wall Street was closed for Presidents' Day holiday, dealers said. At the close, the FTSE 100 index was 24.9 points higher at 6,444.4, off session highs of 6,451.4. All the broader FTSE indices were also stronger. However, volume remained light, with just 1.707 bln shares changing hands in 289,934 transactions, as UK equities lacked guidance from across the Atlantic, with Wall Street closed. On the London trading floor, mining issues continued to offer the main support for UK blue chips. Anglo American remained the top FTSE 100 riser, up 84 pence to 2,622, helped by a report in yesterday's Sunday Times that Russia's Polyus Gold had made an approach to buy the miner's 2.25 bln stg stake in AngloGold Ashanti. Today's Financial Times, meanwhile, reported that Anglo American is expected to accompany Wednesday's interim results with news of a share buyback plan that would return up to 4 bln stg to shareholders. Firm commodity prices, notably for copper, also helped lift the mining sector, with Kazakhmys gaining 27 pence at 1,126, Lonmin up 94 pence to 3,290, Vedanta up 23 pence to 1,309, and Xstrata up 28 pence to 2,533 while Rio Tinto clocked up 29 pence to 2,828. Elsewhere, Sainsbury was in fine fettle, taking on 8-3/4 pence at 512-3/4 after yesterday's Sunday Telegraph reported that a secretive Middle Eastern investment fund, which owns a stake in the food retailer, has discussed a potential joint bid for the UK's second biggest supermarket chain with Stuart Rose, the head of Marks & Spencer.