London’s equities markets were up on Tuesday. The FTSE 100 reached its highest level in 44 months to close at 5,327.5, a gain of 36.7 points on the day. The FTSE 250 was up as well, closing at 7,636.6. 2.6 billion shares were traded on the day.

The FTSE 100’s gains were helped by advances in mining stocks and on the expectation that the Bank of England will lower UK interest rates when its monetary policy committee meets later in the week.

Shares in mining companies were higher on new record high prices for copper brought about by production interruptions in Zambia and Chile that raised the possibility of tight supplies becoming even tighter. BHP Billiton was up 2.5 percent to 810p, Antofagasta gained 1.6 percent to £13.46, Rio Tinto added 2.1 percent to £19.15, and Xstrata rose by 1.7 percent to £12.13.

In the air transportation sector, Ryanair gained 1.8 percent to *6.87 on record high quarterly earnings, even though it raised cautions about results for the rest of the year due to high fuel costs. Fund manager Amvescap lost 1.6 percent to 420p on results that were a bit below predictions.

Other fund managers saw gains on the day after rumors that CI Financial might be readying a hostile takeover of Amvescap. Henderson Group gained 3.1 percent to 67 ½p, Rathbone Brothers was up 1.3 percent to 847 ½p, and Schroders added 1.2 percent to 869 ½p.