Aero, mining stocks lead FTSE 100 higher; Equiniti Group shines

London's FTSE 100 edged higher on Thursday, led by gains in aero and base metal mining stocks, while Equiniti Group jumped after agreeing to a take private deal.

The blue-chip index rose 0.1% with miners adding more than 1% on higher metal prices. [MET/L]

Aero and defence stocks rose 1.3% with Rolls-Royce (LON:RR) among the biggest gainers.

Aveva Group (LON:AVV) jumped 2.2% after Barclays (LON:BARC) upgraded the stock to "overweight" from "neutral".

However, gains on the index were limited by oil majors BP (LON:BP) and Royal Dutch Shell (LON:RDSa), which slipped more than 0.5% each on lower crude prices. [O/R]

The domestically focused mid-cap FTSE 250 index advanced 0.2%.

Equiniti Group jumped 8.9% after the British administration services and payments specialist agreed to be taken over by a new company backed by private-equity firm Siris Capital in a 673 million pound ($949 million) deal.