LONDON MARKETS: U.K. Stocks Higher As Miners, Smith & Nephew Gain

By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- U.K. stocks moved higher Monday, with the start of the last week of trade in 2014 seeing gains for mining shares, as well as a further advance for medical-devices maker Smith & Nephew PLC.

The FTSE 100 index rose 0.3% to 6,631.08, and a win Monday would be the index's eighth in a row.

Top gainers included mining stocks, which have been hit in recent weeks on lower prices for metals and concerns about oversupply in the iron-ore market. Shares of iron-ore producer BHP Billiton PLC (BHP) picked up 2.6%, copper producer Fresnillo PLC gained 3.1%, and Anglo American PLC rose 2%.

Smith & Nephew PLC shares were up 2.1%, extending their 7.7% jump on Christmas Eve, after a Bloomberg report that U.S. surgical-implants maker Stryker Corp. (SYK) is preparing to make a takeover offer.

Meanwhile, shares of Tesco PLC were off 0.5% following analysis that the supermarket chain is facing the possibility of having to inject 300 million pounds ($467.4 million) into its employees' pension plan for the next 10 years, the Guardian reported over the weekend, citing a report from pensions consultant John Ralfe.

Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires