Financials lead London rebound - FT.com Financials and mining stocks drove London equity markets higher on Wednesday as investors in the UK returned to their desks having missed a volatile start to the week for an extended public holiday. Trading on Monday and Tuesday was turbulent in Europe, but most Continental markets - with the exception of Germany - managed to notch up some hard-won gains. London traders joined in spurred by speculation that the European Central Bank will offer some form of economic stimulus at its monthly meeting later in the session. The Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee meets on Thursday, and financial markets are putting pressure on the MPC to act also. In mid-morning trade on Wednesday, the FTSE 100 was up 78 points, or 1.5 per cent, to 5,338.6, led by banks and miners. Lloyds Banking Group climbed 5.3 per cent to 27.06p after announcing it had sold an £809m portfolio of Australian corporate real estate loans to AET SPV Management Property for £388m. Lloyds said the sale had no material impact as it had already made bad loan provisions against the portfolio, which had been responsible for losses worth £133m in 2011. Barclays was not far behind, climbing 5.2 per cent to 182.7p, while Royal Bank of Scotland added 5.1 per cent to 209.9p. Man Group, the hedge fund, took the lead on the FTSE, however, after Citigroup raised its rating on the stock to "buy" from "neutral." Man shares were up 7.3 per cent to 81p. Among miners, precious metals extractors were the best performers on speculation that gold and silver will continue to hold their value against persistent market turbulence, expected intervention and stimulus measures. Mexican silver miner Fresnillo gained 6.2 per cent to £14.56, while Randgold Resources added 4.1 per cent to £57.88 and Anglo American, the world's biggest platinum producer, rose 4.9 per cent to £20.51. On the FTSE 250, Russia-based gold miner Petropavlovsk climbed 4.8 per cent to 406.5p, helped by an upgrade from UBS to "buy" from "neutral." African Barrick Gold added 6.5 per cent to 372p. The FTSE 250 index rose 1.5 per cent to 10,496.6. Vodafone, the mobile network operator, was the biggest faller on the FTSE 100, down 3.5 per cent to 167.7p after it announced it had taken a controlling stake in mobile coupon provider Vouchercloud, increasing its holding to 57 per cent.