Rio May Expand Buyback on Higher Prices, Analysts Say

Rio Tinto Group, the world’s third-largest mining company, may increase its $5 billion share buyback should the commodity price rally persist, analysts said.

“We see potential for this to be progressively increased with subsequent result announcements, especially given the strength of our forecast earnings,” Lyndon Fagan, a Sydney-based analyst at Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, said in a report. RBS estimates Rio’s profit at $18.8 billion in 2011.