FTSE 100 up as Anglo American strikes Teck deal

The FTSE 100 closed higher on Tuesday, on a mixed day in London, supported by strength in mining stocks after Anglo American announced a deal to merge with Canada’s Teck Resources.

The FTSE 100 index closed up 21.09 points, 0.2%, at 9,242.53. The FTSE 250 ended 87.74 points lower, 0.4%, at 21,596.71 and the AIM All-Share finished down 1.43 points, 0.2%, at 768.30.

Anglo American rose 9.1%.

The miner has agreed a deal to combine with Teck Resources, creating a “critical minerals champion and top five global copper producer”.

The “merger of equals” will see Anglo issue 1.3301 ordinary shares to Teck shareholders, in exchange for each outstanding Teck class A common share and class B subordinate voting share.

The enlarged firm is expected to have stock market listings in London, Johannesburg, Toronto and New York, the latter through American depositary receipts.

“We see the merger proposition as compelling for Anglo, enhancing its copper exposure, while further strengthening the growth proposition over the next decade,” said Citi analyst Ephrem Ravi.

The M&A impetus in the mining sector also lifted shares in Glencore and Antofagasta, which were up 5.3% and 2.0% respectively. Teck was up 14% in New York.

Elsewhere, the oil price spiked in afternoon trade as Israel confirmed it had carried out air strikes on Doha in an operation targeting senior leaders of Palestinian militant group Hamas.

A barrel of Brent traded at 66.91 dollars late Tuesday afternoon, up from 66.31 dollars on Monday, on fears the strike will reignite tensions within the region.

Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman criticised the attack, calling it a “criminal act”.

Israel notified the US before it carried out the strikes, a White House official said.

In Europe, the CAC 40 in Paris ended up 0.2%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt closed 0.4% lower.

French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou was set to submit his resignation to President Emmanuel Macron after parliament ousted the government on Monday, with the French leader rushing to find a successor in a deepening political crisis.

On Monday, Mr Bayrou suffered a crushing loss in the confidence vote he had himself called, plunging France into fresh uncertainty and leaving Mr Macron with the task of finding the seventh premier of his mandate.

In a parting shot before the vote, Mr Bayrou told MPs: “You have the power to topple the government, but you don’t have the power to erase reality,” referring to France’s debt mountain.

The French president’s office said in a statement that Mr Macron “took note” of the outcome and would name a new premier “in the next days”, ending any remaining speculation that the president could instead call snap elections.

The political uncertainty comes days before the next European Central Bank decision, at which it is widely expected to lave interest rates unchanged.

In New York, at the time of the London equities market close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.3%, the S&P 500 rose 0.1%, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.1%.

Figures from the US Bureau of Labour Statistics showed it had overestimated total nonfarm employment by 911,000 jobs, or 0.6%, in the 12 months through March 2025, according to its preliminary benchmark revision.

The annual revision is part of the agency’s routine reconciliation between survey-based employment estimates and more complete counts derived from state unemployment insurance records.

The downward revision far exceeds the 10-year average revision of 0.2%.

The pound eased to 1.3531 dollars late on Tuesday afternoon in London, compared to 1.3545 dollars at the equities close on Monday. The euro dipped to 1.1724 dollars, against 1.1749 dollars. Against the yen, the dollar was trading lower at 147.20 yen compared with 147.60 yen.

The yield on the US 10-year Treasury was quoted at 4.08%, stretched from 4.05% on Monday. The yield on the US 30-year Treasury was quoted at 4.73%, widened from 4.71%.

On London’s FTSE 250, Diversified Energy rose 5.5% as it announced a move to acquire Canvas Energy for 550 million dollars.

“The acquisition adds complementary operated producing properties and acreage positions in Oklahoma, concentrated in Major, Kingfisher and Canadian Counties,” it explained. “Included in the acquisition are approximately 23 high quality wells that have been turned to sales in the last 12 months.”

But homeware provider Dunelm was out of favour, tumbling 10%, as it highlighted lacklustre consumer confidence alongside in line results.

Russ Mould, analyst at AJ Bell commented: “Dunelm is holding its head above water in a tricky retail environment, yet investors clearly want more judging by the negative market response to its latest results.”

The Leicestershire-based company said pre-tax profit rose 2.7% to £211.0 million in the 52 weeks to June 28 from £205.4 million the year prior. Diluted earnings per share increased 3.2% to 76.8 pence from 74.4p.

Revenue climbed 3.8% to £1.77 billion from £1.71 billion, as its market share of the combined homewares and furniture market rose to 7.9% from 7.7%.

“A solid enough update from Dunelm, albeit with no obvious new news,” said Grace Gilberg, an analyst at Jefferies.

“After a good recovery in the shares since April, and no definite signal of an improving consumer, this update could temper near-term enthusiasm. The shares trade on (around) 15x PE, and we retain our neutral stance,” she continued.

Gold ebbed to 3,640.80 dollars an ounce on Tuesday against 3,644.14 dollars on Monday.

The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 were Anglo American, up 207.0 pence at 2,490.0p, Glencore, up 15.15p at 301.65p, Airtel Africa, up 8.0p at 223.6p, Coca-Cola Europacific Partners, up 150.0p at 6,730.0p and NatWest, up 10.2p at 522.2p.

The biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 were London Stock Exchange, down 434.0p at 8,826.0p, Howden Joinery, down 25.0p at 830.5p, JD Sports, down 2.08p at 93.4p, Ashtead Group, down 118.0p at 5,474.0p and Fresnillo, down 42.0p at 2,136.0p.

Wednesday’s local corporate calendar has a trading statement from Primark owner Associated British Foods, and half year results from housebuilder Vistry.

The global economic calendar on Wednesday has a Chinese inflation print overnight, plus US producer price inflation figures.

Contributed by Alliance News