FTSE 100 index up 0.6%; Homeserve inks U.S. deal, shares up LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Gains from mining and oil companies helped buoy the top British share index on Wednesday, with both sectors getting a lift from higher commodity prices. Shares of Xstrata (UK:XTA 1,298, +37.00, +2.93%) climbed 2%, Kazakhmys (UK:KAZ 1,559, +32.00, +2.10%) shares were up 1.3% and Eurasian Natural Resources (UK:ENRC 1,243, +45.11, +3.77%) advanced 2.8%. The gains came as light-sweet-crude-oil futures advanced 84 cents to $84.89 a barrel and gold futures rose $4.90 to $1,158.30 an ounce. "Intel numbers have boosted appetite for risk, with investors recycling money out of the safe havens of the U.S. dollar and into the riskier commodity stocks. As a result, the miners have turned around yesterday's losses in early trade and energy stocks have also gained ground," said strategists at City Index. Read more on Intel. Helped by the gains in the mining sector, the FTSE 100 index (UK:UKX 5,801, +38.92, +0.68%) rose 0.4%, or 23.36 points, to 5,785.62. Other European shares were also higher. See Europe Markets. U.S stock futures were pointing to a day of gains after banking group J.P. Morgan Chase (JPM 47.10, +1.23, +2.68%) also reported a surge in profit. See Indications. Intel Kicks Off Earnings Season With a Bang Intel's profit surges as revenue jumps 44%. MarketWatch's Dan Gallagher tells Stacey Delo what's behind the chip maker's strong earnings report. Banks were mostly higher in London, with Barclays (UK:BARC 369.20, +6.25, +1.72%) (BCS 22.92, +0.51, +2.28%) shares up 1.5% and Royal Bank of Scotland (UK:RBS 44.88, +0.31, +0.70%) up 1.5%. Outside the top index, shares of Homeserve (UK:HSV 1,914, +117.00, +6.52%) jumped 6.4%. The firm said that it will develop its U.S. operations with the acquisition of the service contract business of National Grid Energy Services for a net payment of $14 million. It also signed a 10- year marketing agreement with National Grid USA. "This is the long awaited deal that gives Homeserve critical mass in the USA domestic repairs insurance market," said analysts at Seymour Pierce, upgrading the firm to outperform from buy after the deal. Shares of train and bus group National Express (UK:NEX 245.80, +5.90, +2.46%) climbed 2.6% after an upgrade to buy from neutral at UBS. The broker, which also has a buy on U.K. transport operator FirstGroup (UK:FGP 374.40, +5.60, +1.52%) , up 0.8%, said both companies have well-diversified business mixes and are in the process of a turnaround, while neither is overly exposed to U.K. rail or London bus businesses. UBS said the worst appears to now be over for U.K. public transport volumes, and it's raising growth forecasts for U.K. rail volumes to 0% in 2010 from minus 2% and 3% in 2011 from 1%. UBS sees growth returning to the bus business in 2011.

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