GlobaL markets made cautious gains yesterday as US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke raised the prospect of more economic stimulus for the world's biggest economy.

Investors took heart as Mr Bernanke said there was no "preset course" for ending its vast money-printing drive.

The FTSE-100 Index closed up 15.6 points at 6571.9 following the comments, having fallen into negative territory after the Bank of England's interest rate meeting minutes dashed investor hopes of more economic stimulus.

And with the focus on the future of QE in America, the Dow Jones Industrial Average on Wall Street edged higher in early trading while indices across Europe also made gains.

Testifying before the House Financial Services Committee, Mr Bernanke moved to quell some of the fears after the Fed said that economic improvements could see it start to taper QE.

Minutes of this month's Bank of England rates meeting – the first under new governor Mark Carney – were in the spotlight after revealing a unanimous vote against more asset purchases to aid the UK economic recovery. Instead the central bank is mulling giving forward guidance on stimulus.

The pound was up slightly against the US dollar at 1.52 and gained 0.7% on the euro at 1.16.

Chris Saint, head of currency dealing at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: "Although there remains some division over whether more QE will be warranted in future, the minutes have dampened speculation that Mr Carney's arrival might prompt an injection of additional monetary stimulus sooner rather than later."

Strong gains from mining stocks helped move the FTSE higher after BHP Billiton reported record annual iron ore production.

BHP Billiton rose 2% or 36p to 1868p, Glencore Xstrata climbed 7.4p to 271.95p and silver miner Fresnillo gained 26p to 1042p.

A profit warning from engineering firm Smiths Group knocked its shares as by as much as 5% in early trading, but they recovered some of their losses to close down 14p at 1377p.

It said three troublesome contracts for airport and border scanners in its Smiths Detection business would wipe about £15 million from operating profits.

In the FTSE-250 Index, FirstGroup edged up 0.5p to 92.85p after saying recovery efforts were starting to bear fruit.

While it added there remains "significant work to do" to get back on track, it reported a 1.4% rise in like-for-like passenger revenues at its UK bus division in the three months to 30 June and a 5.5% hike across its rail operations.

The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 were Marks & Spencer 13.1p higher to 473.6p, Glencore Xstrata up 7.4p to 271.95p, Fresnillo 26p higher to 1042p and Anglo American 33p firmer to 1357p.

The biggest fallers were Land Securities down 24.5p to 945p, Imperial Tobacco off 56p to 2197p, Capita 19p down to 1036p and Johnson Matthey 49p weaker to 2757p.