The FTSE 100 posted a new closing high on Tuesday as gains in retailers offset heavy falls in defence stocks which slid as hopes grew of progress in peace talks between Ukraine and Russia.
The FTSE 100 index closed up 31.48 points, 0.3%, at 9,157.74. The FTSE 250 ended up 83.69 points, 0.4%, at 21,833.26 while the AIM All-Share finished 2.06 points higher, 0.3%, at 763.22.
In Europe, the CAC 40 in Paris rose 1.3%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt closed up 0.5%.
In New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.2%, the S&P 500 was 0.3% lower, and the Nasdaq Composite declined 1.0%.
President Donald Trump said that US air support and European ground troops could be part of security guarantees for Ukraine, warning of a “rough” situation if talks between Moscow and Kyiv fail.
“When it comes to security, they’re willing to put people on the ground,” he told Fox News, referring to the European allies whom he met in the White House on Monday.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said that security guarantees were a “key issue, a starting point for ending the war”.
Mr Trump said that following his talks on Monday with European leaders he is pushing to organise a bilateral summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Mr Zelensky – followed by another where he will join.
In London, defence stocks fell sharply with Babcock International down 7.4%, BAE Systems down 3.6% and Rolls-Royce down 2.1%.
Helping offset this were gains in retailers despite news of a delay to official sales data.
The Office for National Statistics said it was delaying the release of UK retail sales figures, which were due to be published on Friday, so it can carry out further “quality assurance” work on the data.
The UK’s statistics agency said retail sales figures for July will now to be released on September 5, two weeks later than previously planned. An ONS spokesperson told the Financial Times that further information would be provided when the full data was released.
It is the latest setback for the ONS which had to correct April’s consumer price index after finding an error stemming from a vehicle excise duty calculation.
More encouragingly, food retailers, Tesco and Sainsbury, rose 1.5% and 1.1% respectively, as figures from market researcher Worldpanel showed UK grocery sales rose 4.0% year-on-year in the 4 weeks to August 10.
Broker Citi noted that Tesco and Sainsbury again outperformed the market with sales up 7.1% and 4.8%. Marks & Spencer rose 3.5% as the survey showed sales increased 6.1%, Citi said.
JD Sports jumped 6.8%, supported by a positive statement from Applied Nutrition, which rose 12%.
JD Sports holds a just under 10% stake in Applied Nutrition which listed in London last year.
On Tuesday, the Liverpool-based sports nutrition brand, Applied Nutrition, said revenue will be ahead of City expectations for the financial year just ended, and predicted further growth ahead.
Applied Nutrition expects revenue for the financial year ending July 31 of £107 million, up 24% from £86 million in financial 2024, and ahead of market expectations for £100 million.
Elsewhere, Anglo American said it intends to seek damages after Peabody Energy Corp’s “wrongful termination” of its bid to acquire Anglo American’s steelmaking coal assets in Australia.
New York Stock Exchange-listed Peabody announced that it has dropped its plan to buy a steelmaking coal portfolio from Anglo American nearly five months after an “ignition event” at the Moranbah North mine on March 31.
Anglo American temporarily suspended mining operations at Moranbah North following the fire.
Anglo American chief executive officer Duncan Wanblad said the fire does not constitute a “material adverse change”, under the definitive agreements with Peabody.
Shares in Anglo American closed up 1.6%.
The pound eased to 1.3503 US dollars late on Tuesday afternoon in London, compared to 1.3517 dollars at the equities close on Monday. The euro edged up to 1.1669 dollars, higher against 1.1667 dollars. Against the yen, the dollar was trading higher at 147.75 yen compared to 146.96 yen.
The yield on the US 10-year Treasury was at 4.31%, narrowed from 4.35%. The yield on the US 30-year Treasury was 4.91%, trimmed from 4.95%.
On the FTSE 250, Metro Bank rose 6.2% as RBC Capital Markets upgraded to “outperform”, citing a valuation discount to its peers.
But International Workplace Group slid 13% as it warned annual adjusted earnings would be towards the bottom end of guidance.
The Zug, Switzerland-based provider of hybrid workspace, expects adjusted earning before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation at the low-end of the 525 million US dollars (£389 million) to 565 million dollars (£418 million) guidance range, due to further investment in Managed and Franchise segment growth.
In the half year, IWG said it invested 15 million US dollars (£11 milion) in the partnership sales team in its Managed & Franchised division to accelerate the development of its pipeline. It said 413 new locations were signed in the first half of the year, up 6.7% from 387 a year ago.
Chief executive Mark Dixon said IWG had opened more locations in the last six months than in the entire first decade of its existence.
A barrel of Brent was little changed at 66.08 US dollars late on Tuesday afternoon from 66.07 dollars on Monday. Gold ebbed to 3,325.33 dollars (£2,464.5) an ounce against 3,334.83 dollars (£2,471.54).
The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 were: JD Sports, up 6p at 93.8p; Marks & Spencer, up 12p at 358.6p; Diageo, up 66p at 2,101p; Persimmon, up 34.5p at 1,130.5p; and IMI up 66p at 2,316p.
The biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 were: Babcock International, down 78p at 969p; Fresnillo, down 71p at 1,625p; BAE Systems, down 69.5p at 1,721p; Rolls-Royce, down 22.5p at 1,059.5p; and Endeavour Mining, down 50p at 2,436p.
Wednesday’s local corporate calendar has half-year results from Costain Group, Ithaca Energy and OSB Bank.
The global economic calendar on Wednesday has interest rate decisions in China and Sweden, UK inflation figures and the minutes of the July FOMC meeting.
Contributed by Alliance News
