Punters stake less as markets more poised Traders were pleased by America's upbeat retail figures and were keeping their fingers crossed ahead of a meeting of the US Federal Reserve, where they were hoping the central bank would acknowledge a somewhat brighter economic outlook. The FTSE 100 gained 63.16 points to 5,955.91, its highest level since July, while the FTSE 250 jumped 186.17 points to 11,750.07. But those gains were made in thin volumes, with traders pointing out that most people were focused on the horseracing at the Cheltenham Festival, rather than the day's dealings. Rebounding copper prices prompted a recovery among the miners with Vedanta Resources climbing 61p to £14.30 and Kazakhmys up 30½ to 986p. But having announced a cut in its dividend so it can spend more on expansion projects, Chilean miner Antofagasta sank 29p to £12.41. International Airlines Group flew up the leaderboard, climbing 7.2 to 170.4p, after pilots at Iberia - which merged with British Airways to form the group last year - called off a series of strikes intended to protest against the start-up of a low-cost airline. Advertising agency, WPP, ticked up 13½ to 835p. One of its companies, Fabric Worldwide, won a contract alongside India's Infosys to support GlaxoSmithKline's global marketing campaigns. The order was said to be "large" and will enable Glaxo to capture what people are saying about its products and on its own website and social media. An upgrade from Citigroup helped Intertek put on 40p to £24.95. Analysts raised their price target on the testing group, which puts products such as toys and clothes through their paces, to £28.00 from £22.00. There were only 11 stocks on the losing side of the index. Alongside Antofagasta, G4S slipped 6 to 283½p as the security giant revealed profits had been hit by the £50m cost of its failed bid for Danish outsourcer, ISS. Demand for luxury cars helped Inchcape rise 41.3 to 418.2p. Profits at the multinational car dealer rose almost 6pc, driven up by an appetite for premium vehicles in emerging markets. "While (new) cars are undoubtedly big ticket items, the growing trends to 'premiumisation" in the higher growth emerging market economies and the drive for lower motoring costs and higher fuel efficiency in more mature economies remain positive for car sales," said analysts at Investec, who stayed bullish on the stock. 3i continued to be supported by reheated suggestions that management could make a 275p-a-share bid for the private equity firm. Despite some in the City rubbishing the rumours, 3i put on another 13.6 to 210p. A more concrete reason for MITIE's rise was the support services group being given the nod for a contract with Lloyds Banking Group. MITIE said it had been appointed preferred bidder for a contract to deliver facilities management services to the bank and it rose 16.6 to 285p. Alliance Trust added 4.2 to 378p amid suggestions that a scrap between the investment firm and shareholder, Laxey, had taken another twist. Reports suggested that Laxey had asked Alliance to carry out a comprehensive review, including whether to contract out asset management. On the junior market, Lupus Capital climbed 13 to 128p after saying it would sell its oil services division to Phoenix Equity Partners for £75m. Housebuilders still buoyant on NewBuy Housebuilders were in demand as analysts continued to digest the ramifications of the Government's move to spur the construction market by supporting 95pc loan-to-value mortgages for new builds. Analysts at Credit Suisse urged investors in the housebuilders to "buy on NewBuy." While the broker thought that the Government's target to create 100,00 new homes through the scheme was "unrealistic," it added: "We need to see only a small fraction of the Government's targeted 100,000 units being delivered to make a material impact on the 2012-13 earnings-per-share forecasts of the listed players." Barratt Developments added 7½ to 149.3p while Taylor Wimpey put on 2.14 to 52.1p and Persimmon rose 10 to 680p.