LONDON, June 20: Europe’s main stock markets gained ground on Wednesday, supported partly by a strong mining sector, and following solid gains on Wall Street overnight and earlier in Asia.London trading was somewhat subdued, however, after minutes from the Bank of England’s June gathering, when the key interest rate was held at 5.50 per cent, signalled that borrowing costs would probably rise next month.

Higher rates feed through into rising debt repayments for companies and tighter budgets for consumers.

At the half-way stage, the British capital's FTSE 100 index of leading shares added 0.33 per cent to 6,672.20 points, in Paris the CAC 40 gained 0.71 per cent to 6,114.50 and Frankfurt's DAX 30 won 0.92 per cent 8,107.45.

The DJ Euro Stoxx 50 index of leading eurozone shares increased 0.67 per cent to 4,557.33 points.

The euro stood at 1.3428 dollars.

Wall Street posted modest gains on Tuesday in a choppy session as tensions on the bond market eased and economic data showed the US housing market still weak but generally in line with expectations, dealers said.

In London on Wednesday, miners boosted the blue-chips after US investment bank Goldman Sachs forecast accelerating demand growth for metals in 2008.

Vedanta Resources soared 2.93 per cent to 1,617 pence, Kazakhmys added 1.94 per cent to 1,312 pence and Lonmin won 1.68 per cent to 4,249 pence.

In Paris, Arcelor Mittal, the world's biggest steelmaker, saw its share price gain 1.55 per cent to 49.71 euros.—AFP