(Sharecast News) - London's FTSE 100 finished at another record high on Friday as speculation about a mega merger in the heavyweight mining sector boosted share prices.
UK markets held on to gains after a solid start on Wall Street despite a mixed December jobs report, in which the US economy added fewer non-farm payrolls than expected while wage inflation picked up and the unemployment rate unexpectedly fell.
"The FTSE 100 followed the S&P 500, Dow and DAX by hitting a record closing high on the last day of the first full trading week of the year, marking an impressive start to 2026," said Axel Rudolph, senior technical analyst at IG.
The FTSE 100 closed 80 points higher (+0.8%) at 10,124.60, topping Tuesday's previous closing high of 10,122.73.
US non-farm payrolls rose by 50,000 last month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported, coming in less than the 60,000 additions expected by analysts. December's figures were lower than a 56,000 gain in November, which was revised down from the initial estimate of 64,000.
December's data - the first 'clean' jobs report unaffected by October's record government shutdown - also revealed that the unemployment rate reduced to 4.4% in December, down from a four-year high of 4.6% the month before, while the annual increase in average hourly earnings jumped to 3.8% from 3.6%.
"This mixed data still left markets expecting the Fed to hold rates, but attention now shifts to earnings season," Rudolph said.
On home shores, investors were mulling the latest data from the British Retail Consortium. It showed that that footfall across all shopping locations dropped in December, marking a disappointing end to the year for retailers, who are having to contend with weak consumer sentiment amid the rising cost of living.
Mining M&A lifts sector
Glencore surged 10% after it and Rio Tinto confirmed they are in preliminary talks about a possible combination of some or all of their businesses, which could include an all-share merger - a deal that would create the world's largest mining company.
Rio had rejected a merger approach from Glencore in 2014, while talks between the two collapsed in 2024 after they failed to agree on valuation. Rio also gained on Friday, along with Antofagasta and Anglo American.
Marks & Spencer was trading up after Berenberg upgraded the shares to 'buy' from 'hold' and nudged up the price target to 415p from 412p. The bank said share price weakness in November and December has brought the forward price-to-earnings valuation (to March 2027E) down to a "relatively attractive" 10x.
Sainsbury's was in focus after saying it remained on track to deliver annual retail profits of more than 1bn, following strong demand for food and drink in the run up to Christmas.
IAG flew lower after saying it had appointed Joe Antonio Barrionuevo, the finance chief of British Airways, as its new chief financial officer, succeeding Nicholas Cadbury.
On the FTSE 250, Herald Investment Trust surged 7% after it unveiled a two-stage plan to enable New York activist hedge fund Saba to make a cash exit from the 1.2bn fund while also making sure other shareholders do not find themselves stuck in the trust if Saba eventually takes control.
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 10,128.05 0.83%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 23,039.72 0.64%
techMARK (TASX) 5,851.37 0.00%
FTSE 100 - Risers
Glencore (GLEN) 452.65p 9.60%
CRH (CDI) (CRH) 9,652.00p 4.35%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 3,473.00p 4.11%
Auto Trader Group (AUTO) 593.60p 3.81%
Shell (SHEL) 2,640.00p 3.04%
Anglo American (AAL) 3,216.00p 2.68%
Spirax Group (SPX) 7,110.00p 2.45%
Diploma (DPLM) 5,660.00p 2.44%
BP (BP.) 425.60p 2.39%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 353.00p 2.38%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 310.60p -5.59%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 6,006.00p -3.04%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 425.10p -2.48%
Vodafone Group (VOD) 101.20p -2.36%
Tesco (TSCO) 415.40p -1.59%
Aviva (AV.) 682.00p -1.25%
Kingfisher (KGF) 322.60p -1.19%
Haleon (HLN) 367.50p -1.18%
Smith & Nephew (SN.) 1,255.50p -1.06%
BT Group (BT.A) 181.15p -0.96%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Herald Investment Trust (HRI) 2,640.00p 7.32%
Ithaca Energy (ITH) 162.00p 5.33%
Chemring Group (CHG) 536.00p 5.10%
4Imprint Group (FOUR) 4,165.00p 4.78%
Clarkson (CKN) 4,175.00p 4.77%
Ashmore Group (ASHM) 184.80p 3.82%
Man Group (EMG) 255.80p 3.48%
QinetiQ Group (QQ.) 500.50p 3.20%
Victrex plc (VCT) 692.00p 3.13%
WPP (WPP) 349.80p 3.13%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Endeavour Mining (EDV) 3,894.00p -4.98%
Shawbrook Group (SHAW) 469.00p -3.30%
Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings (AML) 62.70p -3.24%
Senior (SNR) 215.00p -2.93%
Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT) 138.00p -2.54%
Oxford Biomedica (OXB) 735.00p -2.13%
Watches of Switzerland Group (WOSG) 472.60p -2.11%
Derwent London (DLN) 1,850.00p -1.91%
Computacenter (CCC) 3,152.00p -1.87%
Grafton Group Ut (CDI) (GFTU) 950.00p -1.57%
79.91 (0.80%)
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