Precious metals sparkle again on cheer from China Americas-focused Hochschild, which has seen its share price halve since the start of the year, soared almost 24pc to close up 45.8 at 239.2p, topping the mid-cap leader board. African Barrick Gold was the second-biggest mid-cap riser, up 13.8 -12pc - to 128.6p. Among the blue chips, the crown went to Fresnillo as the optimism helped the world's largest primary silver producer recover from the near-11pc slump in its share price on Tuesday, when it had revealed a sharp fall in half-year profits. Fresnillo rose 78p - 8.2pc - to £10.35, just shy of Monday's pre-results close price of £10.37. Featherweight Aim-listed gold miner Hummingbird Resources posted what analysts at Shore Capital described as "encouraging" drilling results from its Dugbe 1 project in Liberia. Hummingbird flew 4¾ higher - 16.7pc - to 33¼p. The FTSE 100 picked up pace through the day on wider economic optimism, to close up 53.71 points at 6,583.39. The FTSE 250 rose 39.18 points to 15,125.39. Lloyds Banking Group benefited from an upgrade by analysts at Morgan Stanley, who said they were "more bullish than most on the outlook for UK housing, while expecting a faster capital build and potential to re-rate as dividends are reinstated." Despite noting risks including a "potential UK housing bubble longer term" and "unresolved regulatory/conduct issues" they raised Lloyds to "overweight" from "equal weight." Lloyds ticked up 1.09 to 75.11p. HSBC was also in demand, up 12.2 to 709.8p as analysts at Investec upgraded it to "buy." Savings and investments group Standard Life fell for a second day after Thursday's first-half results, which disappointed analysts despite a 6pc rise in pre-tax profits to £304m. It ended the day off 12½ at 365p. Investors welcomed the decision by Tesco to fold its unprofitable Chinese operation into a state-run company as minority partner. The supermarket giant rose 5.9 to 375p.