A STRONG finish on Wall Street after brighter economic news from the US gave the London market an early lift today.

The FTSE 100 Index rose 25.4 points to 4189.4 after an hour of trading following a gain of nearly 2% for the Dow Jones Industrial Average overnight.

More upbeat data from the struggling US housing market and better than expected results from several corporates helped the mood across the Atlantic.

In London, Kazakh-based miners Eurasian Natural Resources (ENR) and Kazakhmys set the pace after traders said the duo would benefit from a devaluation of Kazakhstan’s currency, the tenge.

ENR - the leading Footsie riser - gained 8% or 27.75p to 358p, with Kazakhmys up 15.75p to 259.75p.

Life and pensions firm Aviva was also in the leading pack after better than expected new business figures for last year. This pushed the stock 17.75p higher to 350.5p, more than 5%.

Software group Sage was the biggest Footsie faller after a downbeat trading update and the shares turned ex-dividend, meaning investors are not entitled to the latest payout. Shares fell 7.7p, or 4% to 177.9p.

Drugs giant AstraZeneca - another ex-div stock - also lost 101p to 2666p.