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London’s blue chip index remained lower at midday on Monday, as equities in Europe made a cautious start to the Christmas-shortened week. The FTSE 100 index traded down 45.52 points, 0.5%, at 9,851.90. The FTSE 250 was down 75.95 points, 0.3%, at 22,236.76, and the AIM All-Share was up 1.51 points, 0.2%, at 758.90. The Cboe UK 100 was down 0.5% at 987.50, the Cboe UK 250 was down 0.5% at 19,333.05, and the Cboe Small Companies was 0.1% lower at 17,230.33. The CAC 40 in Paris was down 0.5% and Frankfurt’s DAX 40 was flat. ‘European markets have entered the final full week of 2025 on a largely tepid tone with many easing back ahead of a shortened week that looks likely to see lower volume and lower volatility. Coming off the back of a period that has seen a raft of big-ticket, market-moving events, traders are expecting things to calm down towards year-end,’ Scope Markets analyst Joshua Mahony commented. ‘Gold and silver prices have pushed into fresh record highs this morning as traders once again pile into the precious metal space amid ongoing concerns about debt and fiscal sustainability in the face of record high yields in Japan.’ The analyst added: ‘In the energy space, we have seen oil prices rise as geopolitical concerns increase once again. Despite previous hopes that Trump could bring about a deal to end the war in Ukraine, the Kremlin have perhaps unsurprisingly stated that the recent changes from Ukraine and Europe to the peace proposals do very little to bring an agreement closer.’ A barrel of Brent rose to $61.59 early Monday afternoon from $60.16 late Friday afternoon in London. Gold traded at $4,409.57 an ounce, up from $4,348.80. The precious metal traded as high as $4,420.47 on Monday, a new record high. Also boosting oil, the US Coast Guard was pursuing another allegedly sanctioned tanker on Sunday, a US official told AFP, as Washington ramps up its pressure campaign targeting Venezuela’s vital oil sector. The ‘active pursuit’ in the Caribbean Sea was happening a day after the Coast Guard seized its second vessel off Venezuela in two weeks. US President Donald Trump announced on December 16 a blockade of ‘sanctioned oil vessels’ sailing to and from Venezuela, demanding the return of allegedly stolen US assets in the oil-rich South American country. He has also deployed a large navy armada in the Caribbean with a stated mission of combatting drug trafficking, but which Caracas says is a pressure campaign to oust President Nicolas Maduro. Tracking gold higher, Endeavour Mining and Fresnillo each rose 2.5%, the best FTSE 100 performers. Hochschild Mining rose 3.4%, the best of the 250s. Sterling advanced to $1.3441 midday Monday from $1.3373 at the time of the London equities close on Friday. The euro was higher at $1.1734 against $1.1715. Against the yen, the dollar faded to JP¥157.36 from JP¥157.46. The UK economy suffered a growth slowdown in the third quarter of the year, numbers from the Office for National Statistics confirmed on Monday. UK gross domestic product nudged 0.1% higher quarter-on-quarter in the three months to September 30. GDP had risen 0.2% in the second quarter, downwardly revised from a previously-reported 0.3% advance. ‘In output terms, growth in the latest quarter was driven by increases of 0.2% in services and 0.2% in construction; the production sector fell by 0.3%,’ the ONS said. On-year, GDP rose 1.3%, easing from a 1.4% rise in the second. The ONS confirmed that over the course of 2024, UK GDP rose 1.1%. ‘The level of real GDP in quarter 3 2025 compared with quarter 4 2023 is now estimated to be 2.9% higher, revised down slightly from the first estimate of 3.0%,’ the ONS added. AJ Bell analyst Danni Hewson commented: ‘With the Bank of England expecting growth to come to a standstill in the last few months of the year, thanks in part to the impact of the Budget on overall confidence, it‘s clear there are huge challenges to overcome if the UK’s growth story is going to become more compelling.’ The yield on the 10-year US Treasury widened to 4.17% from 4.14% at the time of the closing bell on the London Stock Exchange late Friday afternoon. The 30-year yield stretched to 4.85% from 4.82%. In New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is called to open flat, the S&P 500 up 0.4% and the Nasdaq Composite 0.5% higher. Gambling firm Rank Group shed 7.0%. It said its Spanish arm has been the victim of payment fraud. The Grosvenor casino and Mecca bingo owner said its Enracha and Yo businesses in Spain suffered from payment fraud totalling around €7.1 million. ‘The group has reported the matter to the relevant law enforcement agencies and is supporting their investigations, as well as carrying out its own internal investigation with the help of an external law firm’ Rank adds. ‘Given the exceptional nature of this incident, Rank Group expects to treat the financial impact as a separately disclosed item in relation to its 2025/26 performance.’ Harbour Energy fell 4.7%. It said the $3.2 billion acquisition of LLOG Exploration Co LLC will materially improve cash flow supporting ‘competitive shareholder distributions’. The oil and gas producer with operations across Europe, Latin America, North Africa and Southeast Asia said the deal adds conventional offshore oil assets, increases production, extends reserves life and improves margins. Harbour Energy said the consideration will be settled $2.7 billion in cash and $500 million in shares to be issued to the seller, LLOG Holdings. With the shares it will receive, LLOG Holdings will have an 11% stake in Harbour Energy. Atlantic Lithium surged 26%. The Africa-focused lithium exploration and development company has submitted a revised mining lease to the Ghanian government for the Ewoyaa project. ‘The company remains confident that ratification of the mining lease will be forthcoming in accordance with due parliamentary process,’ the firm said. Copyright 2025 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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