The FTSE 100 closed lower on Tuesday as a rally in mining stocks was offset by hefty falls in software, data analytics and advertising companies amid perceived AI threats.
The FTSE 100 index closed down 26.97 points, or 0.3%, at 10,314.59.
The FTSE 250 ended down 135.68 points, or 0.6%, at 23,290.37, and the AIM All-Share closed up 3.99 points, 0.5%, at 818.33.
On the FTSE 100, Relx slid 14%, London Stock Exchange Group tumbled 13%, Experian slumped 8.3%, Sage Group declined 6.5% and Pearson 7.7%.
The sharp falls came after US artificial intelligence firm Anthropic released new ‘agentic AI’ tools for corporate legal teams, including a legal plug-in for its Claude generative AI chatbot.
The US AI company said the tool can automate legal work such as reviewing contracts, triaging non-disclosure agreements, composing briefings and providing templated responses.
The roll-out renewed fears that AI will threaten existing business models, hitting sales and growth.
Relx owns LexisNexis, a provider of information and analytics to law firms, while London Stock Exchange is a financial data provider.
Experian is a credit checker, Pearson a provider of educational content and assessments while Sage sells accountancy software.
In Europe, Dutch publisher Wolters Kluwer fell 13%, while losses spread to the advertising world where WPP slumped 8.7%, and Publicis, which also reported fourth quarter results, which was down 8.9% in Paris.
In the US, data provider Thomson Reuters slumped 16%.
In European equities on Tuesday, the CAC 40 in Paris closed down slightly, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt eased 0.1%.
Heading higher in London were mining stocks, which rallied after recent falls.
Gold was quoted higher at 4,971.16 dollars an ounce on Tuesday, up against 4,696.11 dollars at the same time on Monday.
Silver rebounded 12% and copper strengthened 4.5%.
The top five blue chip risers were all miners, with Anglo American up 7.3%. Fresnillo up 6.4%, Antofagasta up 6.3%, Endeavour Mining, up 3.9% and Glencore up 3.3%.
“The sharp sell-off in gold over the past few days has encouraged investors to buy on the dip, scooping up the precious metal in their droves and making it sparkle again,” said AJ Bell analyst Russ Mould.
Thursday is the deadline day for Rio Tinto to firm up a bid for Glencore.
On Tuesday, Glencore said Orion Critical Mineral Consortium is looking into buying a 40% stake in Glencore’s interests in its Democratic Republic of Congo assets, Mutanda Mining and Kamoto Copper Co for around nine billion dollars.
On the FTSE 250, Plus500 rose 7.0% after it announced the launch of a US prediction markets platform with a regulated business-to-consumer offering.
The Haifa, Israel-based contracts-for-difference trading platform operator said it entered into the US retail prediction markets segment with the launch of the platform which includes products from Kalshi Exchange, which Plus500 says is the first regulated event-based contracts exchange in the US.
AG Barr jumped 5.7% as it said its annual trading was in line with forecasts, and announced the acquisitions of the Fentimans and Frobishers Juices brands.
The Cumbernauld-based soft drinks manufacturing company said revenue for the year ended January 31 increased by around 4% to about £437 million from £420 million the year before.
The Irn-Bru owner delivered “modest growth” in the second half, it said, with “good performances” from Rubicon and Boost.
Stocks in New York were lower. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.1%, the S&P 500 index was 0.6% lower, and the Nasdaq Composite declined 1.3%.
PayPal sank 19% after naming a new chief executive as fourth quarter results and guidance missed forecasts.
The San Jose, California-based financial transaction processing services company said performance had been “solid”, but execution “has not been where it needs to be, particularly in branded checkout”.
PayPal said some progress has been made in a number of areas over the last two years, but “the pace of change and execution was not in line with the board’s expectations”.
As a result, PayPal appointed Enrique Lores as president and chief executive, effective March 1.
Mr Lores, who has served on the PayPal board for nearly five years and as chairman since July 2024, succeeds Alex Chriss.
Another change at the top came at Disney which announced chief executive officer Robert Iger will step down next month.
The expected move sees Disney Experiences chairman Josh D’Amaro promoted to the role of chief executive, as widely flagged.
Disney, which reported results on Monday, was down 2.4%.
The yield on the US 10-year Treasury was quoted at 4.29%, stretched from 4.25%. The yield on the US 30-year Treasury was quoted 4.92%, widened from 4.85%.
The pound was quoted higher at 1.3695 dollars at the time of the London equities close on Tuesday, compared with 1.3651 dollars on Monday.
The euro stood higher at 1.1818 dollars, against 1.1804 dollars. Against the yen, the dollar was trading higher at 155.73 yen compared with 155.52 yen.
Elsewhere, CyanConnode soared 19% after announcing it had received a takeover approach from Dubai-based Esyasoft Holding.
The Cambridge-based developer of narrowband radio frequency mesh networks said the possible takeover offer would value it at £35 million, around 9.75 pence per share.
Brent oil was quoted at 67.15 dollars a barrel at the time of the London equities close on Tuesday, up from 66.03 dollars late on Monday.
The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 were Anglo American, up 250.0p at 3,700.0p, Fresnillo, up 234.0p at 3,902.0p, Antofagasta, up 228.0p at 3,868.0p, Endeavour Mining, up 162.0p at 4,272.0p and Glencore, up 16.3p at 517.3p.
The biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 were Relx, down 371.0p at 2,214.0p, London Stock Exchange Group, down 1,054.0p at 7,180.0p, ICG, down 148.0p at 1,656.0p, Pearson, down 75.0p at 894.6p and Experian, down 185.0p at 2,555.0p.
Wednesday’s global economic calendar has a slew of composite PMI readings, eurozone PPI figures and ADP payroll data in the US.
Wednesday’s UK corporate calendar has full-year results from pharmaceuticals firm, GSK.
– Contributed by Alliance News
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