Rio Tinto firms on aluminium talk Rio Tinto hit a five-month high amid speculation that the miner was moving closer to selling its Alcan aluminium division. Rio finance director Chris Lynch hosted an analyst roundtable this week following its decision to shelve the sale of its Pacific Aluminium and fold it back into Alcan. He said management was now focused on understanding the business. "Our cynical view of what is happening is that Rio Tinto has now realised that some or all of the Pacific Aluminium assets are perhaps better off being closed," said UBS analysts. While closing parts of Pacific Aluminium would have disrupted the sale of that unit, the necessary cost cuts would be easier within Alcan, the broker argued. "In our view, an exit of the entire business is perhaps the prudent course of action," it told clients. We highlight that the aluminium business uses $19bn of capital for almost no return. Rio paid $38.1bn for Alcan in 2007, at the peak of the aluminium cycle. Analysts now value the division at about a third of that. Rio added 2.2 per cent to £32.63, with the stock rallying for a fourth day in tandem with the wider mining sector. Since hitting its lowest level since 2009 last month, the FTSE's large-cap mining index has rebounded 23 per cent. Antofagasta rose 2.2 per cent to 979p while Glencore took on 2 per cent to 307.5p as Credit Suisse repeated its "outperform" advice. It forecast that Glencore can save $1.5bn a year by 2014 from its Xstrata takeover, which would be three times management's official target. Fresnillo climbed 5.6 per cent to £11.65 after UBS started coverage of the silver miner with a "buy" advice and a £12.50 target. "In an uncertain gold and price environment, we believe low-cost, low-risk producers that will likely continue to generate free cash flow at depressed silver and gold prices should continue to outperform," UBS said. In our opinion, Fresnillo meets these criteria. The miners" strength pushed the FTSE 100 up 0.6 per cent, or 37.6 points, to 6,611.94. Wood Group rose to a record high, up 2.3 per cent to 915.5p, ahead of interims next week. Investec Securities said it expected the oil services engineer to show strong profit growth and maintain full-year guidance. Insurer Resolution was up 1.8 per cent to 329.5p, a three-year high, after its first-half profits beat market expectations. "Resolution is at an inflection point," said RBC. As the UK's second-largest corporate pensions writer, it is well placed to benefit from the asset shifts we expect in the UK. Other financial stocks faded with Prudential drifting from Monday's results-inspired record high, down 1.4 per cent to £12.15. Old Mutual dropped 2.6 per cent to 196.1p after Nomura cut the stock from its "buy" list, largely on valuation grounds. Doorstep lender International Personal Finance slipped 4.1 per cent to 599.5p after Citigroup advised taking profits. EnQuest , the North sea oil producer, slipped 2.2 per cent to 123.9p after it damped production guidance because of start-up delays at a new field. The production cut eclipsed guidance that EnQuest would halve its income tax rate this year and was not expecting to pay any cash tax until 2018. Security contractor G4S gained a further 1.8 per cent to 248.7p amid break-up speculation following Monday's news that activist investor Cevian Capital had taken a 5.1 per cent stake. Rentokil drifted 1.7 per cent to 97.1p a day before second-quarter results. UBS said Rentokil's workwear division could disappoint because of weakness in France while the pest control operations may have been hampered by poor weather in Europe and the US. Michael Page fell 4 per cent to 450.2p after management repeated guidance for a difficult third quarter. Interim results from the recruitment group provided few surprises. Grainger , the residential landlord, climbed 1.1 per cent to 184p on an upgrade to "neutral" from JPMorgan Cazenove. It called Grainger a "quality, diversified play" on house price inflation in southeast England where 63 per cent of its portfolio is located. A profit warning sent Waterlogic sliding 15.2 per cent to 142p. The water cooler maker blamed contract delays.