Britain's FTSE pushes higher after miner reversal

Antofagasta gained 3.1 percent in volume of 2.8 times its 90-day average after posting a rise in revenue and hiking its dividend payout.

The results lifted the sector, with volatile copper-focussed peer Kazakhmys up 6 percent to lead the index, and fellow miners Rio Tinto and Fresnillo paring early losses despite reporting some snags.

"We've seen a lot of interest in Antofagasta after it doubled its dividend payout, and that's helping boost the mining sector as a whole," Michael Hewson, analyst at CMC Markets, said.

"The outperformers at the moment tend to be outweighing the fallers by quite a considerable margin."

Fresnillo, which had fallen as much as 5 percent after reporting slumping profit, closed only 0.6 percent lower, and Rio Tinto reversed an early dip to eke out a 0.3 percent gain despite slowing progress in developing a multi-billion investment in Guinea.

That improvement among the fallers helped the miners, which had been flat at midday, to close 0.5 percent higher , and a boost to the index, which had also traded flat in the morning session.

The FTSE 100 closed 6.99 points higher, up 0.1 percent, at 6,510.62, the index's highest close since 2007.

Despite these heady heights, investors appear relaxed about the potential for sharp falls in major stock markets.

Volatility on the FTSE fell 4.1 percent, tracking a fall in U.S. volatility overnight. The crude

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