Stocks green as US-Denmark tensions remain high

Stock prices in London closed higher on Wednesday, after safe-haven demand from a firming gold price lifted mining stocks.

Meanwhile, in the US, producer price inflation came in hotter than anticipated, while existing home sales improved last month.

The FTSE 100 index closed up 47.00 points, 0.5%, at 10,184.35.

The FTSE 250 ended up 25.34 points, 0.1%, at 22,957.31, and the AIM All-Share closed up 2.64 points, 0.3%, at 801.69.

Gold was quoted at 4,621.15 dollars an ounce, up from 4,598.33 dollars, after earlier hitting a new record of 4,638.0 dollars an ounce.

London-listed miners made gains as a result.

Glencore led the FTSE 100, rising 3.0%, while Rio Tinto gained 2.3%.

Pearson remained the worst performer, losing 9.6% after its trading update.

The educational materials publisher reiterated its medium-term outlook for mid-single-digit sales growth, sustained margin improvement and free cash flow conversion of 90% to 100%.

Pearson also reported underlying group sales growth of 4% for the year, with momentum strengthening into the fourth quarter, where sales rose 8%.

On the FTSE 250, Hays lost 5.0%, after reporting that net fees shrunk 9% on-year in its second quarter for the overall group, with fees falling 14% in the Permanent segment.

Hays expects pre-exceptional operating profit for the first half of around £20 million, in line with consensus.

It would represent a decline from £25.5 million a year prior.

Atalaya Mining rose 1.9%.

The metals producer said its 2025 production neared the top end of its guidance range, improving 11% to 51,139 tonnes from 46,227 tonnes in 2024.

Atalaya said it targets 2026 output of between 50,000 and 54,000 tonnes and expects to see a rise of around 10% in the second half of the year compared to the first.

The pound was quoted at 1.3450 dollars at the time of the London equities close on Wednesday, higher compared to 1.3428 dollars on Tuesday.

The euro stood higher at 1.1656 dollars, against 1.1638 dollars.

Against the yen, the dollar was trading at 158.25 yen, down from 159.17 yen.

In European equities on Wednesday, the CAC 40 in Paris closed down 0.1%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt ended down 0.4%.

Denmark will beef up its military presence in Greenland “from today”, the defence ministry said on Wednesday, just before high-stakes talks were to start in Washington DC over US President Donald Trump’s threats to take over the Arctic island.

In the US, existing home sales increased by 5.1% on-month in December to a higher-than-expected seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.4 million, the National Association of Realtors said, compared with a 0.7% increase (revised from 0.5%) in November to 4.1 million.

Year-on-year, sales increased by 1.4% in December, flipping from a 1.0% decline in November.

And according to the US Census Bureau, advance estimates indicated retail and food services sales rose 0.6% in November from October, above the FXStreet-cited consensus of 0.4%, and were up 3.3% from a year earlier.

Producer prices rose at a faster pace in November, driven by higher energy costs, while annual inflation came hotter than expected, data from the US Bureau of Labour Statistics showed.

The producer price index for final demand increased 0.2% in November on a seasonally adjusted basis, following a 0.1% rise in October and a 0.6% gain in September.

On an unadjusted basis, final demand prices in November were 3.0% higher than a year earlier, up from 2.8% in October and above the 2.7% rise expected by the FXStreet-consensus.

Stocks in New York were lower.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.2%, the S&P 500 index was down 0.7%, and the Nasdaq Composite was down 1.2%.

The yield on the US 10-year Treasury was quoted at 4.14%, narrowing from 4.18%.

The yield on the US 30-year Treasury was quoted at 4.80%, narrowing from 4.84%.

US crude oil stockpiles increased by 3.4 million barrels in the week ended January 9, the Energy Information Administration reported.

The increase was ahead of the FXStreet-cited consensus of a drop of 2.2 million barrels.

The prior week, they fell by 3.8 million barrels.

Brent oil was quoted at 65.97 dollars a barrel at the time of the London equities close on Wednesday, up from 65.65 dollars late on Tuesday.

The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 were Glencore, up 14.0p at 484.2p, Marks & Spencer, up 9.57p at 355.57p, AstraZeneca, up 338.0p at 14,346.0p, Rio Tinto, up 141.0p at 6,355.0p, and Metlen Energy & Metals, up 0.95p at 44.05p.

The biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 were Pearson, down 102.70p at 972.8p, Sage, down 49.56p at 1,059.94p, Berkeley Group, down 108.0p at 3,874.0p, ICG, down 53.0p at 1,973.0p, and Barratt Redrow, down 9.0p at 368.9p.

On Thursday’s economic calendar, the UK has GDP, trade balance, industrial production and construction output data.

Other releases include US weekly jobless figures and retail sales.

On Thursday’s UK corporate calendar, various firms release trading updates including Taylor Wimpey, Fuller Smith & Turner and Rathbones.

Safestore and Titon will also publish their full-year results.

– Contributed by Alliance News.