The FTSE 100 opened 151 points higher to 10,371 in opening trades, more than wiping out all the losses from yesterday. This comes amid a fall in oil prices and news of a peace deal in the Middle East. Brent Crude trades at $106.5, down 3.05% for the second consecutive day, while West Texas Intermediate (WTI) stands at $98.62, down 3.57%.
Fresnillo surged 5.30% to £3,280, while Anglo American advanced 5.26% to £3,752 and Endeavour Mining gained 4.34% to £4,471.
Diageo also climbed 4.26% to £1,538, while Standard Chartered added 4.05% to £1,893 and Antofagasta edged higher by 4% to £3,704.
On the downside, RELX declined 1.16% to £2,643, while Smith & Nephew fell 2.11% to £1,134.50 and BP dropped 1.75% to £562.60.
Among others, Shell slipped 0.66% to £3,290.50, while Pershing Square eased 0.34% to £4,056 and London Stock Exchange Group edged down 0.13% to £9,566.
Next has upgraded its full-year profit guidance after a strong start to the year. The clothes retailer said full-price sales jumped 6.2% in the first quarter, ahead of its 4% forecast and generating an extra £28 million of revenue.
This added £8 million to profit, lifting full-year guidance for pre-tax profit to £1.218 billion from £1.21 billion.
Ticketing app Trainline reported an increase in revenue in its full-year results. The company saw revenue jump 2% to £453 million in the year that ended in February, after group ticket sales increased 7% to £6.3 billion.
Profit before tax increased 11% to £177 million. Basic earnings per share jumped 48% to £19.4 from £13.1. The group also benefited from a rise in digital railcard customers, increasing 16% to 2.7 million.
The group forecasts net ticket sales of between £6.2 billion and £6.4 billion in the financial year 2027.
Shares of Smith & Nephew declined despite the company announcing a new $500 million (£368 million) share buyback. The company posted a 6.6% rise in turnover to $1.5 billion in the first quarter of the year.
However, the business suffered a 7.2% slump in sales. It said customer demand would be weighted towards the second half of the year. Shares fell 3.7% to £1,116. The stock is down by 8.3% since the start of the year.
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In the US, stocks closed higher, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq climbing 0.8% and 1% to fresh highs, led by strength in the tech sector. The Dow Jones rose 0.7%.
In Asia, the Kospi surged 6.7% to 7,407 points, breaking 7,000 for the first time in its history. Taiwan’s TAIEX index jumped 0.9%, fueled by the surge in AI stocks. In China, the mainland’s CSI 300 increased 1.2%, while Shanghai’s Composite rose 0.8%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng advanced 0.9%. In India, the Sensex is up 0.12%, and the Nifty 50 is up 0.29%.
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