It was another dull day in London, just like the weather. Stocks closed mostly flat on Tuesday, with little to move markets.
The FTSE 100 ended at 9,701.80, the FTSE 250 at 21,982.00, and the AIM All-Share closed at 748.32.
Banks were the main contributors to modest gains after clearing the Bank of England’s latest stress tests. Lloyds Banking Group rose 2.0%, Barclays 1.6%, NatWest 1.3%, and Standard Chartered 1.2%. The BoE lowered its benchmark for Tier 1 capital requirements to 13% of risk-weighted assets, down from 14%, confirming that banks could continue to operate even under tougher economic conditions.
Other sectors were weaker. Miners fell as gold prices dipped, with Endeavour Mining down 4.9% and Fresnillo 3.3%. Endeavour outlined five-year targets to expand beyond West Africa, aiming to discover 12–15 million ounces of mineral resources at an average cost below $40 per ounce.
Housebuilders were mixed after data showed UK house price growth slowed to 1.8% in November from 2.4% in October. Persimmon rose 0.5%, Taylor Wimpey 0.8%, but Berkeley fell 3.3% and Barratt Redrow lost 1.7%.
Victrex climbed 7.7% on the FTSE 250 after reporting pretax profit rose 44% to £33.8 million for the year to September 30, up from £23.4 million the previous year. On The Beach jumped 12% following annual results that showed pretax profit up 9.5% and revenue up 1.8%.
US equities were slightly higher by the London close. The S&P 500 rose 0.2%, the Nasdaq Composite added 0.6%, and the Dow Jones gained 0.4%, with investors looking ahead to whether a Santa Rally will materialise this year.
Bitcoin bounced back to trade above $91,000 after falling to $84,000 on Monday. Crypto-linked equities, including Coinbase and Robinhood, also recovered some ground.
Markets are now waiting for further economic data later this week and the Federal Reserve’s two-day meeting next week. The CME FedWatch tool shows an 87% chance of a quarter-point rate cut on December 10.