STOCKS NEWS EUROPE-Miners soar as metals prices stabilise

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10:50GMT 21Nov2008-Miners soar as metals prices stabilise

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Mining shares jump amid a wider stock market rally, helped by metals prices stabilising.

The mining sector, always one of the most volatile, is the best performing in Europe with the DJStoxx basic resources index .SXPP shooting up 8.8 percent and the UK mining index .FTNMX1770 10.3 percent stronger.

"It's a very high beta sector, I'm not sure if there's anything more than that," says analyst Michael Rawlinson at Liberum Capital "The iron ore price is picking up, steel prices seem to be bottoming. But this is across the board, they all just got very sold off, so I think this is a bear market rally. I'd like to think that we've hit the bottom, but I'm not going to bet on that until January."

Latin American copper producer Antofagasta (ANTO.L) is the top gainer of the FTSE 100, surging 14.7 percent, while Indian-focused Vedanta Resources (VED.L) climbs 11.4 percent.  Continued...