London shares open higher as miners rally offsets BoE rate caution UPDATE.

(From AFX Europe (Focus))

(Updating with further details)

LONDON (AFX) - Leading shares were higher in opening deals as strength in heavyweight miners and positive broker comment offset caution ahead of Thursday's rate decision and the mid-term election in the US, dealers said.

At 9.05 am, the FTSE 100 was 36.7 points firmer at 6,184.8, in line with the broader positive sentiment.

Volume was average with 179 mln shares changing hands in 29,995 deals.

Meanwhile, Wall Street finished the week under pressure, as a spike in the price of oil and a mixed set of job data added to jitters over the health of the world's largest economy.

The Labor Department revealed the unemployment rate hit a five year low, but enthusiasm was tempered as non-farm payrolls missed market forecasts.

The DJIA ended off 32.5 points at 11,986.04, the Nasdaq Comp fell 3.23 at 2,330.79 and The S&P 500 was off 3.04 at 1,364.30.

Meanwhile, in Asia the Nikkei 225 index closed 14.74 points firmer at 16,364.76, while the …