London close: FTSE ends just higher as gold miners surge

(Sharecast News) - London stocks ended a fairly quiet session just higher on Wednesday, after the US Treasury said it will double the size of its long-term government debt repurchases, and as investors mulled the latest UK inflation figures.

The FTSE 100 closed up 0.1% at 10,743.35.

Sentiment got a boost in afternoon trade after the Treasury said it was increasing "by at least double" the size of liquidity support buyback operations for bonds maturing in the 10- to 20-year and the 20- to 30-year ranges. The current maximum size of $2bn per operation will be at least $4bn per operation.

"This increase in buyback operation sizes reflects Treasury's desire to provide greater liquidity support in longer-dated nominal sectors where there is consistent strong sponsorship from market participants, as evidenced by the significant volume of high-quality offers Treasury routinely receives in longer-dated buyback operations," it said.

Neil Wilson, UK investor strategist at Saxo Markets, said: "This is probably more about the signal the administration wants to send to the market than the size of the operation - it's small potatoes versus the $40tn US government debt."

Wilson said this is "a very strong sign" the Treasury has decided higher US yields are unacceptable, "and that the recent blowout in the long end is undesirable and needs counteracting by means other than a) raising short-term rates to re-anchor expectations or b) reining in fiscal drift".

He added: "It resembles Operation Twist by seeking to support the long end and improve liquidity, which could put more pressure on the USD if the market interprets this as meaning easier financial conditions because it allows the Fed to avoid a monetary policy response and implies official support for the Treasury market; or in essence fiscal dominance."

On home shores, figures from the Office for National Statistics showed that inflation rose as expected in July, pushed up in part by higher gas prices. Consumer price inflation increased to 2.9% from 2.6% in June, in line with economists' expectations.

Housing and household services, and furniture made the largest upward contributions to the monthly change, while transport made the largest, partially offsetting, downward contribution.

Within housing and household services, gas prices rose 14.7% in July, having fallen 7.2% a year earlier. The ONS explained that the jump in prices came mainly from higher standard variable tariffs, after Ofgem changed the energy price cap.

The energy regulator estimated that for an average household paying by direct debit for dual fuel, this equated to an annual bill of £1,862, up £221.

Core inflation - which excludes energy, food, alcohol and tobacco - was 2.6% in the 12 months to July, unchanged from June and versus expectations for a small decline to 2.5%.

ONS deputy director for prices Mike Hardie said: "Inflation rose in July, driven by a sharp increase in gas prices following this month's change to the energy price cap. This was the largest rise in gas prices for almost four years.

"Other upward pressures included furniture prices falling by less than usual for this time of year, and also a smaller fall for clothing prices due to reduced discounting.

"The prices of raw materials and goods leaving factories slowed again, driven by a drop in the prices of crude oil and refined petroleum respectively."

Patrick Munnelly at Tickmill Group said the inflation report should not shift the Bank of England from its current steady stance. "The labour market remains softish in the background, which is weighing on private-sector wage growth, and there is no evidence of second-round effects from the energy-price increase," he said.

"Inflation is likely to rise further over the next few months, but the profile should turn lower again around October. That path should keep most rate setters comfortable with an extended hold, especially as the rise in market rates has already tightened financial conditions."

In equity markets, precious metals miner Fresnillo shot to the top of the FTSE 100, while Hochschild, Pan African and Endeavour also shone as gold prices surged after the dollar took a hit from the US Treasury announcement.

Miners more broadly were in the black, with Glencore, Anglo American, Antofagasta and Rio Tinto all up. The latter was also in focus following a Bloomberg report it's in talks about a potential $600m investment in McEwen Copper, which owns the Los Azules project in Argentina.

Oxford Nanopore Technologies rallied as it announced a new 2030 revenue target of more than $700m and reported a narrowing of its interim losses as revenue ticked higher, driven by strong adoption in EMEAI and across Applied end markets.

Ithaca Energy jumped as it upgraded its 2026 dividend guidance and hailed another "strong" quarter and first-half performance.

On the downside, IG Group slid as UBS slashed its price target on the stock to 1,700p from 2,200p.

Medical technology firm Smith & Nephew slumped as it said that chief financial officer John Rogers will be stepping down on 30 September, to take up an external position in the US. Richard Hunter, head of markets at Interactive Investor, said Rogers was "seen as someone largely responsible for the group's margin improvement".

Trainline tumbled after the Competition and Markets Authority opened a formal investigation into the online ticketing group over concerns that customers were not being shown full prices upfront.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 10,743.35 0.14%

FTSE 250 (MCX) 24,643.52 0.33%

techMARK (TASX) 6,158.34 -0.17%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Fresnillo (FRES) 3,085.00p 7.83%

Croda International (CRDA) 3,270.00p 5.25%

Glencore (GLEN) 580.10p 5.24%

Anglo American (AAL) 4,015.00p 4.80%

Antofagasta (ANTO) 3,702.00p 4.14%

Rio Tinto (RIO) 7,388.00p 3.78%

ICG (ICG) 2,028.00p 2.27%

Scottish Mortgage Inv Trust (SMT) 1,460.50p 2.17%

Weir (WEIR) 2,642.00p 2.17%

AstraZeneca (AZN) 12,050.00p 2.07%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

IG Group Holdings (IGG) 1,318.00p -4.91%

Smith & Nephew (SN.) 1,068.50p -3.78%

BAE Systems (BA.) 2,160.00p -2.92%

National Grid (NG.) 1,179.00p -2.64%

Aviva (AV.) 719.40p -2.39%

Halma (HLMA) 3,488.00p -2.30%

Standard Chartered (STAN) 2,154.00p -2.14%

Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 110.35p -2.13%

M&G (MNG) 347.00p -2.06%

SSE (SSE) 2,382.00p -1.85%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT) 139.70p 14.32%

Hochschild Mining (HOC) 554.00p 7.99%

Pan African Resources (PAF) 118.40p 7.64%

Endeavour Mining (EDV) 4,405.00p 7.49%

Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings (AML) 36.06p 5.19%

IP Group (IPO) 69.60p 4.98%

Genuit Group (GEN) 282.80p 4.82%

BlackRock World Mining Trust (BRWM) 995.00p 4.74%

B&M European Value Retail (BME) 239.40p 4.00%

Rank Group (RNK) 107.80p 3.26%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Trainline (TRN) 208.80p -14.07%

Ocado Group (OCDO) 237.80p -4.88%

Raspberry PI Holdings (RPI) 607.00p -4.48%

Avon Technologies (AVON) 1,842.00p -3.76%

Safestore Holdings (SAFE) 596.50p -2.45%

Shawbrook Group (SHAW) 319.00p -2.45%

Chemring Group (CHG) 595.50p -2.14%

Morgan Advanced Materials (MGAM) 237.50p -2.06%

QinetiQ Group (QQ.) 539.00p -2.00%

Paragon Banking Group (PAG) 809.00p -1.94%