Stock costs in London have closed principally increased, as buyers shored up bets on the Bank of England reducing rates of interest in March after unemployment elevated, whereas the pound fell.
The FTSE 100 (^FTSE) index closed up 82.48 factors, 0.8%, at 10,556.17, a new record high. The FTSE 250 (^FTMC) ended up 180.35 factors, 0.8%, at 23,555.82, and the AIM all-share (^FTAI) closed down 4.73 factors, 0.6%, at 806.61.
In European equities on Tuesday, the CAC 40 (^FCHI) in Paris closed 0.5% increased, whereas the DAX (^GDAXI) 40 in Frankfurt ended up 0.8%.
The pound was decrease at 1.3531 US {dollars} on Tuesday afternoon from 1.3629 {dollars} on the equities close on Monday. The euro stood decrease at 1.1830 {dollars} from 1.1854. Against the yen, the greenback was trading increased at 153.61 yen in comparison with 153.44.
The unemployment rate got here in at 5.2% for the three months ended December, up from 5.1% within the three months ended November. The knowledge was above the FXStreet-cited consensus, which had pencilled in one other 5.1% studying.
The ONS estimated that the quantity of payrolled staff within the UK fell by 121,000, or 0.4%, within the yr to December 2025, and decreased by 6,000 on-month.
Pantheon Macroeconomics analyst Rob Wood mentioned: “The rise in unemployment in December and drop in whole-economy average weekly earnings growth will grab the attention, and suggest sharply fading inflation pressures.
“Combined with payrolls still falling slightly the (Monetary Policy Committee) doves have enough to cut rates in March rather than waiting until April, so markets would be right to ramp up the probability of a March cut.”
Deutsche Bank analyst Sanjay Raja mentioned the information “won’t do much to assuage fears that the jobs market remains weak”.
“How high will the jobless rate go? Today’s data suggests there may be a little more room to go before we hit the cyclical peak in the unemployment rate.
“The single month jobless rate already sits at 5.4%. HMRC data suggests more redundancies are ahead. And almost every single survey points to limited hiring plans.
“This will put continued upward pressure on the jobless rate. Put simply, the jobs market remains stuck.”
In response to renewed curiosity rate cut hopes, Barratt Redrow was up 3.1%. Other property shares additionally carried out nicely, with real estate investor Land Securities up 2.4% and fellow housebuilder Persimmon 1.1% increased.
Stocks in New York had been blended, after being closed on Monday for a long weekend. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) was marginally increased, the S&P 500 (^GSPC) index down 0.1%, and the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) 0.2% decrease.
The yield on the US 10-year Treasury was unchanged from Friday at 4.05%. The yield on the US 30-year Treasury slimmed to 4.68% from 4.70%.
In London, Antofagasta (ANTO.L) fell 5.7% as it posted income and working revenue under analyst expectations.
The London-based miner working in Chile mentioned pre-tax revenue climbed 53% to three.16 billion US {dollars} (£2.3 billion) in 2025 from 2.07 billion {dollars} (£1.51 billion) in 2024.
Revenue elevated 30% to eight.62 billion {dollars} (£6.31 billion) from 6.61 billion {dollars} (£4.84 billion), albeit a notch under Peel Hunt expectations of 8.68 billion (£6.36 billion). Earnings earlier than curiosity, tax, depreciation and amortisation grew 52% to a “record” 5.20 billion {dollars} (£3.81 billion) from 3.43 billion {dollars} (£2.51 billion).
Operating revenue from subsidiaries and share of whole outcomes from associates and joint ventures climbed 64% to three.43 billion {dollars} (£2.51 billion) in 2025 from 2.08 billion {dollars} (£1.5 billion) in 2024. It was barely under market consensus in response to Peel Hunt of 3.45 billion {dollars} (£2.52 billion).
Antofagasta advisable a closing dividend of 48 US cents per share for 2025, more than doubled from 23.5 cents a yr in the past. This brings the whole payout for 2025 to 64.6 cents, more than doubled from 31.4 cents.
Peers Endeavour Mining (EDV.L), Anglo American (AAL.L) and Fresnillo (FRES.L) had been additionally down 4.2%, 2.4% and a couple of.1% respectively.
On the FTSE 250 (^FTMC) index, Raspberry Pi (RPI.L) led the best way as its shares jumped 36%.
Bloomberg News reported that the beneficial properties had been pushed by a social media post which mentioned AI brokers such as OpenClaw might drive demand for the firm’s single-board computer systems. The post on X attracted 200,000 views.
A spokesperson for Raspberry Pi instructed Bloomberg that “there’s nothing from the company side beyond what’s already in the public domain”.
SSP Group (SSPG.L) shares had been up 6.6% after UBS raised its score on the stock to “buy”.
Applied Nutrition (APN.L) was 6.2% increased as it raised its income forecast for its present financial yr above market expectations, citing a robust first-half efficiency.
The Merseyside-based wellness model now sees income for the financial yr ending July 31 of round GBP140 million, above market consensus of £133.5 million. Revenue might be up 31% from £107.1 million in financial 2025, when it was in flip up 24% from £86.2 million in financial 2024.
The optimistic outcomes are due to the company’s “channel diversification across UK high street health retailers, grocers and discounters” alongside “accelerated demand for a number of…product launches” within the first half of financial 2026, it mentioned.
Among smaller caps, boohoo Group (DEBS.L) shares fell 6.7% as it confirmed it’s making ready to raise £35 million in contemporary equity and is in talks with its lenders to create extra liquidity.
The online fast fashion retailer that trades as Debenhams mentioned the equity might be used to pay down its debt and offers the elevated financial flexibility to purse its turnaround plan.
It is talking to its lending syndicate about improved covenant amendments attributable to its anticipated lowered leverage.
Boohoo mentioned chief government Dan Finley and administrators Mahmud Kamani and Iain McDonald all will take part within the equity raise at 20 pence per share. Total assist for the equity raise from administrators and institutional shareholders is in extra of £24 million, boohoo mentioned.
Brent (BZ=F) oil was decrease at 67.17 {dollars} a barrel on Tuesday afternoon from 68.42 {dollars} late on Monday. Gold (GC=F) was down at 4,882.00 {dollars} an ounce from 4,985.30 {dollars}.
The largest risers on the FTSE 100 (^FTSE) had been Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (CCEP.L), up 260.00p at 7,690.00p, Barratt Redrow (BTRW.L), up 11.70p at 385.60p, Airtel Africa (AAF.L), up 10.40p at 346.60p, Pearson (PSON.L), up 25.80p at 929.80p and Compass Group (CPG.L), up 58.00p at 2,111.00p.
The largest fallers on the FTSE 100 (^FTSE) had been Endeavour Mining (EDV.L), down 176.00p at 4,510.00p, Antofagasta (ANTO.L), down 129.00p at 3,617.00p, Weir Group (WEIR.L), down 80.00p at 3,430.00p, Anglo American (AAL.L), down 79.00p at 3,499.00p, and Fresnillo (FRES.L), down 80.00p at 3,734.00p.
On Wednesday’s financial calendar, the UK will see CPI and PPI knowledge at 7am GMT, with French CPI later and US building permits and industrial manufacturing knowledge to observe within the afternoon.
Wednesday’s company calendar has full yr outcomes from defence contractor BAE Systems (BA.L) and miner Glencore (GLEN.L), amongst others.
Contributed by Alliance News
