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Stock prices in London opened higher on Tuesday morning, with the FTSE 100 boosted to a new intraday high as the price of gold recovered. The FTSE 100 index opened up 18.48 points, 0.2%, at 10,360.04. The FTSE 250 was up 83.81 points, 0.4%, at 23,509.86, and the AIM all-share was up 7.43 points, 0.9%, at 821.77. Earlier on Tuesday, the FTSE 100 set a new intraday record of 10,373.28 points. The Cboe UK 100 was up 0.2% at 1,034.46, the Cboe UK 250 was 0.7% higher at 20,780.53, and the Cboe small companies was up 0.3% at 18,757.09. In European equities on Tuesday, the CAC 40 in Paris was up 0.5%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt was 1.1% higher. Sterling was at $1.3684 on Tuesday morning, up from $1.3651 at the London equities close on Monday. The euro was slightly higher at $1.1811 from $1.1804. Against the yen, the dollar was marginally higher at JP¥155.58 versus JP¥155.52. The price of gold recovered after uncertainty and a sharp fall in recent days. Gold was higher at $4,915.20 an ounce early on Tuesday from $4,696.11 late Monday. The price of silver rose 9.8%. ‘Ironically, risk appetite appears to be recovering as investors return to gold and silver,’ said Swissquote analyst Ipek Ozkardeskaya. ‘But gold’s latest behaviour is a concern. Traditionally, gold acts as protection against market risk. But it is now behaving like a risky asset worse, at times like a meme stock and its negative correlation with risk assets has faded. Highly speculative, leveraged positioning is largely responsible for this unusual behaviour.’ Ozkardeskaya added: ‘The problem is that most diversified portfolios have exposure to gold, meaning this volatility affects all risk profiles. That is disquieting. It will be interesting to see whether the latest slump helps temper gold‘s meme-like symptoms and restores its reputation as a boring, low-risk safe-haven asset. Because today, that description no longer fits.’ Shares in miners were higher as metal prices recovered. Endeavour Mining led the FTSE 100 and gained 5.6%, Fresnillo was up 4.8%, Anglo American rose 4.4% and Antofagasta climbed 4.2%. Meanwhile, UK grocery sales rose in January while inflation eased, according to new data from Wordpanel by Numerator, as own label spending climbed to a record level as customers looked to manage their budgets. UK grocery sales rose 3.6% year-on-year to £37.69 billion in the 12 weeks to January 25, 2026, while take-home sales across the four weeks to the same date were 3.8% higher. Grocery price inflation eased back to 4.0%, the lowest level since April last year, from 4.3% in December. Own label spending accounted for 52% of grocery spending, the highest level ever recorded. ‘For most shoppers, January is all about resetting household budgets, and this year was no exception. While grocery sales continue to grow and inflation eased to its lowest level in months, value remained front of mind for many with own label hitting a record high, accounting for more than half of all grocery spend,’ said Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Worldpanel by Numerator. Promotional spending rose 11% on-year, marking the fastest rate of growth since October. Full price sales edged up by just 1.7% compared with the same four weeks last year. Sales at Ocado Retail, the joint venture between Ocado and Marks & Spencer, increased by 14%, while the market share rose to 2.1% from 1.9% a year ago. J Sainsbury saw a 5.3% rise in sales, driving a 0.2 percentage point market share gain to 16.2%. Tesco also saw a 0.2 percentage point market share gain, as it took a 28.7% share of the market as sales rose 4.4%. Sales of grocery items at Marks & Spencer were 6.9% higher over the 12 week period. Shares in Marks & Spencer were up 2.7%, J Sainsbury was 1.0% higher, Tesco shares rose 0.2% and Ocado was slightly higher. In Asia on Tuesday, the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo was up 3.9%. In China, the Shanghai Composite was 1.3% higher, while the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong rose 0.2%. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney was 0.9% higher. In the US on Monday, Wall Street ended higher with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 1.1%, the S&P 500 gained 0.5% and the Nasdaq Composite was 0.6% higher. The yield on the US 10-year Treasury was quoted at 4.28% on Tuesday morning, unchanged from Monday’s close. The yield on the US 30-year Treasury widened to 4.91% from 4.90%. In London, Plus500 led the FTSE 250 index and rose 7.5%. The Haifa, Israel-based contracts-for-difference trading platform operator launched a US prediction markets platform with a regulated business-to-consumer-offering. It said the new offering includes products from Kalshi Exchange, the first regulated event-based contracts exchange in the US. Shares in AG Barr climbed 4.8% after it said it delivered a ‘strong performance’ in financial 2026 which is inline with expectations, and said it has bought soft drink brands Fentimans and Frobishers. The Cumbernauld, Scotland-based manufacturer of soft drinks including Irn-Bru said revenue rose around 4% to £437 million in the financial year to the end of January from £420 million. The adjusted operating margin widened to 14.7% from 13.6%, which contributes to double-digit profit growth. The firm announced the acquisitions of soft drink brands Fentimans and Frobishers Juices, which both operate in the adult soft drinks market. It says these brands will benefit from the consumer trend of reduced alcohol consumption. It bought Frobishers for £13 million and Fentimans for around £38 million. On the AIM market, shares in Hardide jumped 30% after it said it won a follow-on order from a customer in North America worth $1.0 million. As a result, it expects its financial performance for financial 2026 to be ahead of previous expectations. Brent oil was trading lower at $65.49 a barrel from $66.03 on Monday. There are no events to come on Tuesday’s global economic calendar. Copyright 2026 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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