29th Oct 2025 17:10
(Alliance News) - Stock prices in London closed mostly higher on Wednesday, as the US Federal Reserve's interest rate decision comes closer.
"Risk appetite remained firm heading into a busy 48 hour period for markets, where major central banks decide on interest rates, technology companies will report their quarterly results, and more to the point, Trump will meet Xi Jinping in a meeting expected to last three hours," commented StoneX's Fawad Razaqzada.
The FTSE 100 index closed up 59.40 points, 0.6%, at 9,756.14. The FTSE 250 ended down 35.85 points, 0.2%, at 22,448.27, and the AIM All-Share closed up 2.10 points, 0.3%, at 772.89.
The Cboe UK 100 was up 0.5% at 974.03, the Cboe UK 250 was 0.3% lower at 19,522.20, and the Cboe Small Companies was up 0.6% at 17,788.42.
Next led the FTSE 100, up 8.8%.
The Leicester, England-based clothing retailer's full price sales in the 13 weeks to October 25 were up 11% on-year, GBP76 million ahead of guidance. Next raised its fourth-quarter full price sales growth outlook to 7.0% from 4.5%, adding GBP36 million to its forecast.
Next also said it intends to return remaining surplus cash at the end of January with a special dividend which, based on the latest guidance, would be around GBP3.10 per share.
Stocks in New York were higher. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.6%, the S&P 500 index was 0.3% higher, and the Nasdaq Composite was up 0.5%.
Nvidia was 2.7% higher, after the AI chip juggernaut became the world's first USD5 trillion company with its share price rising by 4.9% to USD210.90 at the open of trading on Wall Street.
This follows continued strong sales, a flurry of new deals and expectations that the company may soon regain access to China. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is expected in South Korea this week, where he will attend the sidelines of the APEC summit at which US President Donald Trump will meet his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, with issues related to AI development expected to be discussed.
The yield on the US 10-year Treasury was quoted at 4.00%, widening from 3.98%. The yield on the US 30-year Treasury was quoted at 4.57%, widening from 4.55%.
"Across the Pacific, the Federal Reserve is widely tipped to cut rates [by 25 basis points] again tomorrow," said Razaqzada. "Should Chair Jerome Powell sound more dovish than markets expect, the US dollar index could find itself under renewed downward pressure."
Earlier on Wednesday, the Bank of Canada cut the overnight rate by 25 basis points to 2.25% from 2.50%. The decision was in line with market expectations.
Attention will also be on Thursday's meeting between Presidents Trump and Xi, where investors hope some progress will be made in the trade talks. Any further delays or scaling back of tariff measures would likely provide a further boost to sentiment.
"However, even if the Trump–Xi summit brings a positive surprise, it may not be enough to offset the dollar's broader drift lower...Dollar positioning is less one-sided than earlier in the year, which could limit any outsized reaction to dovish rhetoric," Razaqzada continued. "Recent soft CPI data has already reduced the chances of a hawkish surprise. That means the USD/JPY could potentially move back below 150.00, especially if the BoJ springs a hawkish surprise or signals a steeper path to normalisation than expected."
The pound was quoted at USD1.3236 at the time of the London equities close on Wednesday, lower compared to USD1.3279 on Tuesday. The euro stood flat at USD1.1660. Against the yen, the dollar was trading at JPY152.10, slightly down compared to JPY152.14.
In European equities on Wednesday, the CAC 40 in Paris closed down 0.2%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt ended down 0.7%.
The European Central Bank is expected to enact another interest rate hold in what is likely to be an uneventful decision on Thursday, before focus moves to the final meeting of the year in December.
In a September decision which was widely expected, the ECB left the rate on the deposit facility at 2.00%, on the main refinancing operations at 2.15%, and on the marginal lending facility at 2.40%. It was the second hold in succession. Prior to a hold in July, it had cut for seven meetings in a row.
In Madrid, Banco Santander rose 4.3%. The banking firm's attributable profit rose 2.1% on-year to EUR3.50 billion in the third quarter, leaving it on track to achieve its 2025 targets. In the UK, UBS said Santander's profit was around 30% ahead of expectations
Also on Wednesday, Santander urged the UK government to consider changes to the Financial Conduct Authority's proposed redress scheme for historical car finance commissions.
UK Chief Mike Regnier warned that the current plan could have "unintended consequences for the car finance market," including reduced credit supply and damage to the automotive sector.
Brent oil was quoted at USD64.52 a barrel at the time of the London equities close on Wednesday, up from USD64.33 late on Tuesday.
Gold was quoted higher at USD3,997.24 an ounce against USD3,957.04.
The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 were Next, up 1,175.00p at 14,580.00p, GSK, up 108.00p at 1,752.00p, Glencore, up 19.80p at 371.25p, Fresnillo, up 108.00p at 2,256.00p, and Beazley, up 28.00p at 933.50p.
The biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 were Relx, down 102.00p at 3,396.00p, Sage Group, down 30.50p at 1,144.00p, Rentokil Initial, down 11.00p at 420.60p, Rightmove, down 16.61p at 667.99p, and Compass Group, down 62.00p at 2,536.00p.
On Thursday's economic calendar, there are several eurozone releases alongside the ECB rate call, including unemployment, gross domestic product, and consumer confidence.
On Thursday's UK corporate calendar, there are third-quarter results from Shell, Spectris and Standard Chartered.
Trading updates are also scheduled from multiple firms including Coca-Cola HBC, Haleon, WPP and Computacenter.
By Emma Curzon, Alliance News reporter
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