London midday: Miners and banks shine as FTSE extends gains

(Sharecast News) - London stocks had extended gains in quiet trade by midday on Tuesday, with miners and banks pacing the advance in the run-up to the New Year break.

The FTSE 100 was 0.4% higher at 9,906.49.

There are no UK data points due, but in the US, S&P/Case Shiller house prices for October are due at 1400 GMT, while the Chicago PMI for December is at 1445 GMT. The latest FOMC minutes will be released at 1900 GMT.

As far as the minutes are concerned, Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB, said the focus will be on how likely Fed members are to switch from one to two rate cuts in 2026.

"The Fed's Dot Plot predicted that there would be one cut next year, and we doubt that today's minutes will shift the dial for markets, which could put upward pressure on bond yields," she said. "Sovereign yields have risen mildly in the past month, and the 10-year Treasury yield is above 4.1% as we move into year end.

"Perhaps one of the biggest threats to stock indices for 2026 is an end to interest rate cuts, or even rate hikes in the major economies. This is a small risk, but it could cause havoc in risk markets next year, and the focus should be on bond yield movements as we move through to 2026."

In equity markets, precious metals miner Fresnillo and gold miners Hochschild Mining and Endeavour all shone as gold and silver prices recovered after a selloff on Monday.

Heavily-weighted miners Anglo American, Antofagasta, Glencore and Rio Tinto were also sharply higher.

Banks gained, with Barclays, Standard Chartered and HSBC all up.

Grocery technology firm Ocado fell as it said that mutual exclusivity had now ended with retailers in the majority of markets where its technology was currently live, including the USA with Kroger.

Ocado expects to roll off exclusivity arrangements by the end of the year in the majority of markets, enabling it to bring its "proven and much evolved technology offering" back to market in many of the largest grocery markets.

Elsewhere, the saga between Edinburgh Worldwide Investment Trust and Saba rumbled on as EWIT hit back at the New York based investment firm's demands to replace the trust's entire board, calling for the major stakeholder to be open about its intentions.

Over the past year, Saba - which owns just under 30% of EWIT - has been campaigning to remove all of EWIT's independent board directors and replace them with its own three US-based directors.

On Tuesday, EWIT published an open letter, saying Saba must provide shareholders with "full transparency and clarity" about whether it intends to change the investment manager (currently Baillie Gifford) and the investment strategy.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 9,906.49 0.41%

FTSE 250 (MCX) 22,440.21 0.15%

techMARK (TASX) 7,878.31 0.30%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Fresnillo (FRES) 3,354.00p 5.01%

Anglo American (AAL) 3,059.00p 2.48%

Antofagasta (ANTO) 3,284.00p 2.27%

Glencore (GLEN) 404.55p 2.03%

Airtel Africa (AAF) 351.00p 1.98%

Barclays (BARC) 474.80p 1.18%

Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,826.00p 1.16%

Rio Tinto (RIO) 6,018.00p 1.14%

Babcock International Group (BAB) 1,230.00p 1.07%

HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 1,177.40p 0.98%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

DCC (CDI) (DCC) 4,602.00p -1.88%

Convatec Group (CTEC) 240.20p -1.15%

Experian (EXPN) 3,394.00p -1.08%

Relx plc (REL) 3,029.00p -0.66%

Intertek Group (ITRK) 4,632.00p -0.52%

International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 411.60p -0.51%

easyJet (EZJ) 503.40p -0.47%

Flutter Entertainment (DI) (FLTR) 16,005.00p -0.44%

ICG (ICG) 2,044.00p -0.39%

Ashtead Group (AHT) 5,126.00p -0.39%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Hochschild Mining (HOC) 513.00p 3.22%

B&M European Value Retail S.A. (DI) (BME) 169.95p 1.77%

Endeavour Mining (EDV) 3,880.00p 1.62%

Oxford Biomedica (OXB) 627.00p 1.62%

NB Private Equity Partners Ltd. (NBPE) 1,632.00p 1.62%

RIT Capital Partners (RCP) 2,270.00p 1.34%

Pan African Resources (PAF) 121.60p 1.33%

Coats Group (COA) 84.00p 1.33%

Templeton Emerging Markets Inv Trust (TEM) 236.00p 1.29%

WPP (WPP) 337.20p 1.26%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Applied Nutrition (APN) 249.50p -2.54%

Wizz Air Holdings (WIZZ) 1,260.00p -1.72%

Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT) 127.60p -1.62%

Ocado Group (OCDO) 236.00p -1.58%

Ceres Power Holdings (CWR) 215.00p -1.56%

RTW Biotech Opportunities Ltd (RTW) 2.16p -1.37%

Future (FUTR) 521.00p -1.33%

Hill and Smith (HILS) 2,145.00p -1.15%

Mitchells & Butlers (MAB) 260.50p -1.14%

Bakkavor Group (BAKK) 235.50p -1.05%