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London’s blue chip index reached a new record intra-day high on Wednesday morning, beating its peers in Paris and Frankfurt, as Glencore, GSK and Next rose. The FTSE 100 index opened up 39.46 points, 0.4%, at 9,736.20. The FTSE 250 was up 5.76 points at 22,488.55, and the AIM All-Share was up 3.49 points, 0.5%, at 774.28 points. Earlier on Wednesday, the FTSE 100 reached a new intra-day record of 9,739.18. The Cboe UK 100 was up 0.3% at 972.00, the Cboe UK 250 was flat at 19,570.84, and the Cboe Small Companies was 0.6% higher at 17,795.63. In European equities on Wednesday, the CAC 40 in Paris was down 0.1%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt was up 0.1%. Global markets were buoyed by comments from US President Donald Trump, after he said he expected a ‘lot of problems’ to be solved with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in their talks on dialling down their hugely damaging trade war. ‘I think we’re going to have a great meeting with President Xi of China, and a lot of problems are going to be solved,’ Trump said en route to South Korea where he is due to meet with Xi, saying he is ‘optimistic’. ‘We have been talking to them, we’re not just walking into the meeting cold... I think we’re going to have a very good outcome for our country and for the world actually,’ he said on Air Force One. Beijing confirmed the face-to-face meeting on the sidelines of a summit of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, APEC, which is taking place in the city of Gyeongju. The Chinese foreign ministry said the talks would take place in Busan, a short flight from Gyeongju. ‘During this meeting, the two leaders will have in depth communication on strategic and long-term issues concerning China-US relations, as well as major issues of mutual concern,’ foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun told a regular news conference on Wednesday. Later today, attention will turn to key earnings reports in the US, with technology firms Meta Platforms, Microsoft and Alphabet set to release figures after the close in New York. Interest rate decisions are also due in the US and Canada. Sterling was at $1.3213 on Wednesday morning, down from $1.3279 at the London equities close on Tuesday. The euro was lower at $1.1629 from $1.1660. Against the yen, the dollar was higher at JP¥152.27 versus JP¥152.14. In Asia on Wednesday, the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo gained 2.2% and the Shanghai Composite in China was 0.7% higher. The Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong is closed for the Double Ninth Festival. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney closed 1.0% lower. In the US on Tuesday, Wall Street ended higher, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.3%, the S&P 500 gained 0.2% and the Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.8%. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury was unchanged at 3.98% on Wednesday from late on Tuesday. The yield on the 30-year was at 4.54%, slimmed slightly from 4.55%. In London, Glencore led the way on the FTSE 100 and jumped 6.2%. The firm tightened its annual production guidance after delivering a ‘strong’ performance for the first nine months of this year. Copper production for the Barr, Switzerland-based commodity trading and mining company was 583,500 tonnes for the nine months that ended September 30, from 705,200 tonnes a year before, hurt mainly by lower head grades and recoveries. For nine months, steelmaking coal more than doubled to 24.7 million tonnes from 11.1 million, thanks to the Elk Valley Resources acquisition. Glencore completed the Elk Valley Resources transaction in July last year. In its revised guidance, Glencore tightened the copper production estimate to between 850,000 tonnes and 875,000 in 2025, from between 850,000 and 890,000 predicted previously. Copper output was 951,600 tonnes in 2024. Steelmaking coal production guidance remains unchanged at between 30 million tonnes and 35 million in 2025, from 19.9 million tonnes in 2024. But energy coal output is revised to between 92 million tonnes and 97 million in 2025, from a range of 90 million tonnes and 96 million, compared to 99.6 million tonnes in 2024. Next climbed 4.9% after it raised its full year guidance for pretax profit by £30 million to £1.14 billion. The Leicester, England-based clothing retailer said in the thirteen weeks to October 25, full price sales were up 11% from last year. This is £76 million ahead of guidance for a 4.5% rise in sales in the third quarter. The firm said sales overperformed in both the UK and overseas. Sales in the UK were up 5.4% from last year, lower than the 7.6% growth in the first half but ahead of 1.9% guidance. Overseas sales were 39% higher than a year ago, beating 28% growth in the first half and guidance for a 19% rise. The firm raised its fourth quarter full price sales outlook to 7.0% from 4.5%, which added £36 million of full price sales to its forecast. The company noted that it is assuming that it will make no further share buybacks in the current financial year, as the share price is currently higher than its buyback limit. In the absence of any acquisitions or further buybacks, Next said it intends to return remaining surplus cash with a special dividend at the end of January. Based on the latest guidance, it said this special dividend would be around £3.10 per share. GSK was also performing strongly on the blue-chip index and climbed 3.7% after it upgraded its guidance for 2025. The London-based pharmaceutical company said sales were 6.7% higher at £8.55 billion in the three months to the end of September, from £8.01 billion a year ago. Pretax profit multiplied to £2.46 billion from £64 million a year ago. GSK now expects turnover growth of between 6% and 7% at a constant exchange rate, up from previous guidance of towards the top end of the range of between 3% and 5%. The company expects core operating profit constant exchange rate growth between 9% and 11%, up from towards the top end of between 6% and 8%. ‘GSK’s momentum continues with another quarter of strong performance, supporting upgraded guidance for 2025, and positioning us well for 2026 and achieving our longer-term growth outlooks,’ said outgoing Chief Executive Officer Emma Walmsley. ‘Sales grew in all areas, with particularly strong performances in Specialty Medicines driven by double-digit growth in Respiratory Inflammation & Immunology, Oncology and HIV.’ On the FTSE 250 index, Elementis shares were down 1.4%. The specialty chemicals maker said it expects to meet market expectations for the full year despite ‘ongoing weak market conditions’. The firm said revenue in the third quarter was up 2% to around $152 million, and was flat on a constant current basis. Adjusted operating profit improved against the prior year, while adjusted operating margins in the year-to-date were consistent with the performance in the first half. Chair John O’Higgins will not seek re-election at the annual general meeting in April. Elementis said it will provide details on the chair succession plan in due course. WH Smith shares were 1.5% lower after it delayed its full year results to December 16 from November 12. The Swindon, England-based travel retail company said the results have been delayed to allow the completion of a previously announced ‘independent and comprehensive’ review by Deloitte. Among small-caps, shares in Artemis Resources jumped 13%. The gold, copper and lithium focused mining company reported a ‘high-grade gold intersection’ at the Titan East prospect. ‘Given the very encouraging gold intercept we have arranged for diamond drilling to begin in late November to define the true widths and orientation,’ said Executive Director Jozsef Patarica. On the AIM market, Hargreaves Services was down 4.2%. The Durham, England-based industrial services company said all three of its units have performed in line with expectations in the first four months of the year. The firm said it is confident of delivering full-year results in line with market expectations. The company put consensus market expectations for the 12 months to the end of May 2026 at revenue of £270.9 million and pretax profit of £24.2 million. ‘The positive momentum in the infrastructure sector has continued into the current financial year benefitting our Services business. Work continues on the major projects at HS2 and Sizewell C Nuclear Power Station where the group is utilising its broad skill set to bring these critical infrastructure projects to life,’ said Chair Roger McDowell. Gold was higher at $4,011.00 an ounce early on Wednesday from $3,957.04 late Tuesday. Brent oil was trading lower at $63.48 a barrel from $64.33. Still to come on Wednesday’s economic calendar are interest rate decisions in the US and Canada, and UK mortgage approvals data which is due shortly. Copyright 2025 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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