Lunchtime market roundup: Stocks up as miners sparkle ahead of US data

Mining stocks continued to shine on Tuesday midday amid a high copper price, as investors await US trade balance and job openings data.

The FTSE 100 index was up 34.12 points, 0.3%, at 10,891.82. The FTSE 250 was up 96.94 points, 0.4%, at 10,891.82, and the AIM all-share was up 3.14 points, 0.4%, at 771.75.

The Cboe UK 100 was up 0.4% at 1,082.41, the Cboe UK 250 was up 0.4% at 21,118.40, and the Cboe small companies was up 0.1% at 18,691.44.

In European equities on Tuesday, the CAC 40 in Paris was up 0.1%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt was up 0.2%.

The pound was quoted at USD1.3442 midday Tuesday, compared to USD1.3425 at the London equities close on Monday. Against the euro, the pound rose to EUR1.1675 from EUR1.1669.

The euro traded at USD1.1512, up from USD1.1505. Against the yen, the dollar strengthened to JPY157.84 from JPY156.78 after Japan and the US confirmed on Monday they had jointly intervened in currency markets last week to halt the yen's slide after it hit a fresh 40-year low.

Mining stocks led the FTSE 100 higher.

Antofagasta climbed 5.0% as copper prices rose to their highest level in two months, nearing USD14,000 a tonne on the London Metal Exchange, with traders monitoring rising US stockpiles ahead of President Donald Trump's expected decision on copper import tariffs.

Anglo American gained 3.8%, while Glencore and Rio Tinto both rose 3.3%.

At the other end of the blue-chip index, Smith & Nephew fell 4.5% after cutting its full-year sales growth guidance to 4% from around 6%, as second-quarter underlying revenue growth of 1.6% missed consensus expectations due to weaker demand for US hip and knee implants.

Coca-Cola Europacific Partners lost 4.0%.

The soft drinks bottler reaffirmed annual guidance despite slower second-quarter growth, saying the consumer backdrop remained challenging and the impact of the Middle East conflict remained uncertain.

Second-quarter revenue growth slowed to 2.5% from 6.7% in the first quarter. However, the company continues to expect full-year comparable, currency-neutral revenue growth of 3% to 4% and operating profit growth of around 7%, while raising its interim dividend 3.8% to EUR0.82 per share.

Pearson declined 2.5% after Goldman Sachs downgraded the education publisher to "neutral".

Shares in HSBC, London's largest listed company, fell 1.5% despite the lender launching a USD1 billion share buyback after reporting stronger-than-expected first-half earnings.

The bank posted second-quarter pretax profit of just over USD10 billion, comfortably ahead of a company-compiled consensus estimate of USD9.5 billion.

On the FTSE 250, Travis Perkins jumped 18% after reporting higher first-half pretax profit and saying it was seeing encouraging early progress in its operational turnaround.

Johnson Matthey added 5.1% after Jefferies reinstated coverage with a 'buy' rating and a 2,330 pence price target.

Vistry Group fell 9.5%. Metro Bank Holdings dropped 9.6% despite reporting higher interim profit, with investors focusing on weaker fee income.

AG Barr lost 7.6% after reporting a £10 million revenue hit from supply-chain disruption.

Wizz Air slipped 0.7%.

The Budapest-based budget airline carried 8.4 million passengers in July, up 32% from 6.3 million a year earlier. Capacity increased 30% to 8.9 million seats, lifting the load factor to 93.7% from 92.8%.

The airline said it is seeing an acceleration in summer demand following 27% passenger growth in June. Over the 12 months to July, passenger numbers rose 16% to 76.0 million, although the load factor edged down to 90.8% from 91.1%.

Wizz also announced plans to open new bases in Madrid, Valencia and Prishtina in November.

Among smaller companies, FIH Group soared 26%.

The company agreed to sell its loss-making fine art logistics business Momart for £7.6 million in cash. FIH expects most of the proceeds to be returned to shareholders and invested in its remaining Falkland Islands operations.

The disposal, which is subject to shareholder approval, represents a fundamental change of business under AIM rules. Momart reported an underlying pretax loss of £1.4 million in the year to March 31.

MedPal AI advanced 16%.

The healthcare technology company reported a record July across its NHS prescriptions, private prescriptions and SaaS businesses, lifting its annualised recurring revenue run rate to more than £8.6 million from zero just nine months ago and more than 70% higher than two months earlier.

During July, the company dispensed a record 47,223 NHS prescription items, while its New Health GLP-1 clinic reached an annualised revenue run rate above £2.2 million after just three weeks of marketing.

Genedrive climbed 15% after announcing its MT-RNR1 rapid genetic testing kit had been implemented at Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam.

The company also highlighted new UK clinical guidelines supporting broader adoption of MT-RNR1 genotype testing to help prevent antibiotic-induced hearing loss.

CT Automotive lost 21%.

The automotive interiors supplier says first-half underlying pretax profit will be materially below the prior year despite revenue rising 15% to USD62.1 million. The company says higher freight costs, temporary inefficiencies at its expanding Mexico facility, and delayed cost recoveries weighed on earnings

Stocks in New York were called higher. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was called up 0.5%, the S&P 500 up 0.2% and the Nasdaq Composite up 0.7%.

The yield on the US 10-year Treasury was quoted at 4.69%, unchanged from Monday, while the yield on the US 30-year Treasury widened slightly to 5.24% from 5.23%.

Investors also continued to monitor developments in the Middle East.

Trump warned the latest round of negotiations with Iran represented the "last chance" to end the five-month conflict.

Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office late on Monday, Trump said talks were "going on right now" at the request of Iran, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and other regional partners.

Tehran, however, continued to deny that any direct negotiations with Washington were taking place or were planned.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Tuesday that the country would continue to defend its borders but did not seek to broaden the conflict.

Earlier on Monday, Trump described Iran's leaders as "unbelievably duplicitous" and insisted peace talks were under way "whether Iran wants to admit it or not."

Brent crude traded at USD84.64 a barrel at midday Tuesday, up from USD83.92 late Monday.

Gold traded at USD4,053.67 an ounce, up from USD4,036.96 on Monday.

Still to come on Tuesday's economic calendar are US trade balance figures, job openings and labour turnover survey, or JOLTS, data, and factory orders.

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