Commodities

LONDON (ShareCast) - European stocks are on the rise Friday morning with the mining sector taking the lead after Rio Tinto (LSE: RIO.L - news) launched a $15.2bn rights issue.

The cash call follows confirmation this morning that Rio Tinto had scrapped its controversial $19.5bn refinancing deal with Chinese firm Chinalco. The deal also includes a merger of Rio's West Australia iron ore assets with those of bitter rival BHP Billiton (LSE: BLT.L - news) .

Oil producers are also going well after crude oil prices surged ahead, having at one stage targeted $70 a barrel yesterday. Total and StatoilHydro (Oslo: STL.OL - news) are both among the top performers.

Across the markets, the German DAX is up 28 points at 5,093 with the French CAC rising 35 points to 3,347.

CAC 40 (Paris: news) - Risers Dexia (DEXB) € 5.74 +4.36% ArcelorMittal SA (MT) € 24.80 +3.42% Lafarge (Paris: FR0000120537 - news) (LG (003550.KS - news) ) € 50.63 +3.26% Alcatel (Paris: FR0000130007 - news) -Lucent (ALU) € 1.92 +2.95% AXA (CS) € 14.75 +2.79% Saint Gobain (Paris: FR0000125007 - news) (SGO) € 27.23 +2.77% Renault (RNO) € 30.20 +2.48% Credit Agricole (Paris: FR0000045072 - news) (ACA) € 10.85 +1.97% Bouygues (EN) € 28.46 +1.97% Pernod Ricard (Paris: FR0000120693 - news) (RI) € 44.72 +1.69%

CAC 40 - Fallers Michelin (Paris: FR0000121261 - news) (ML) € 43.24 -0.60% Essilor International (EI) € 33.26 -0.49% France Telecom (Paris: FR0000133308 - news) (FTE) € 16.11 -0.00%