Britain's top share index edged up from two-week lows on Thursday, with some investors seeing value in previously unloved mining stocks but waiting for a deeper correction before buying back into the market as a whole, Reuters reported.
Precious metals miners Fresnillo, Randgold and Polymetal led the gainers, up 4.5 to 2.6 per cent and taking heart from a rebound in the gold price.
Bigger names such as Rio Tinto and Anglo American followed, with some investors turning to what has been the worst performing sector this year as previous favorites such as healthcare and food look over-valued.
"They (miners) are volatile, they are cyclical and they are not creators of long-term shareholder value, but there is a price for everything and the recent malaise they've had is starting to make them look attractive on earnings and on yields as well," said Peter Botham, chief investment officer at private bank Brown Shipley.
"At these sorts of levels we would be comfortable buying Rio and BHP."
Metals and mining is one of the cheapest sectors, trading at just 9.6 times expected next year earnings, compared with 11.2 times for the FTSE 100, according to Thomson Reuters StarMine.
The rally in the miners added around 4 points to the FTSE 100, which was up 8.41 points, or 0.1 per cent, at 6,635.57 points by 1041 GMT, rebounding from an earlier two-week low.
The blue chip index has lost 3.5 per cent in five days, knocked off 13-year highs by concerns that US Federal Reserve could begin to unwind its stimulus policies in coming months, thus taking away a key support for global equities.
Technical charts offered some near-term support, with the FTSE halted at the trendline linking the highs from 1999 and 2007, around 6,600 points.
"If this level gives way then a deeper setback is favored to 6,534/6,555," said Ed Blake, technical analyst at Informa Global Markets.
As long as stimulus from the Fed and other central banks stays in place, though, such a correction is likely to attract fresh buyers, potentially putting a floor under the market within 300 points of current levels.
