31st Dec 2025 08:45
(Alliance News) - Stocks in London and Paris were lower on Wednesday morning, though the FTSE 100 was only a hair below its record level, during early moves in an abbreviated trading day.
The FTSE 100 index was down 5.50 points, 0.1%, at 9,935.21. The FTSE 250 was down 38.68 points, 0.2%, at 22,519.68, and the AIM All-Share was down 1.13 points, 0.2%, at 765.83.
The FTSE 100 is up around 22% year-to-date, the FTSE 250 has added some 9% and the AIM All-Share is up about 6%.
The index of London large-caps closed up 74.18 points, 0.8% at 9,940.71 on Tuesday. It was its best-ever closing level.
The Cboe UK 100 was down 0.2% at 995.27, the Cboe UK 250 was also down 0.2% at 19,617.82, and the Cboe Small Companies was up slightly at 17,672.06.
In Paris, the CAC 40 was down 0.4%. Financial markets in Frankfurt are closed on Wednesday. The DAX 40 wrapped up 2025 with a shorter trading day on Tuesday, rising around 23% this year.
Financial markets in London close at 1230 GMT on Wednesday. They also close earlier in Paris.
Over in New York, where there is a full trading on Wednesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 0.2% on Tuesday, the S&P 500 lost 0.1% and the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.2%. The Dow has added 14% so far this year, the S&P 17% and the Nasdaq 21%.
Federal Reserve officials were divided on the extent of labour market softness at the December Federal Open Market Committee meeting, with uncertainty amplified by a lack of data amid the US government shutdown, minutes showed on Tuesday.
At its December meeting, the FOMC elected to trim interest rates by a quarter point, its third cut in as many meetings.
The decision brought the target range for the federal funds rate to 3.50%-3.75%.
Nine of the 12-strong Federal Open Market Committee's voters backed the reduction.
Most participants said the move toward a more neutral policy stance would "help forestall the possibility of a major deterioration in labour market conditions," meeting minutes showed.
"Many of these participants also judged that the available evidence pointed to a reduced probability that tariffs would lead to persistent inflation pressures," the minutes read.
Looking ahead, most participants believed further downward adjustments to the target range would likely be appropriate if inflation declined over time as expected.
However, some suggested that their economic outlooks meant it "would likely be appropriate to keep the target range unchanged for some time after a lowering of the range at this meeting."
Analysts at Barclays said the minutes showed a "hint of a pause".
"While the minutes indicate that most FOMC participants would support further rate cuts if inflation declines as anticipated, details suggest they have differing views about the future rate path. We retain our expectation of a January pause and two 25bp cuts in 2026," Barclays analysts said.
In focus on Wednesday will be a US initial jobless claims reading at 1330 GMT. The reading is expected to show a pick-up in new claims to 220,000 from 214,000.
The pound fell to USD1.3442 early Wednesday, from USD1.3475 at the time of the London equities close on Tuesday. The euro declined to USD1.1727 from USD1.1762. Against the yen, the dollar rose to JPY156.55 from JPY156.25.
At the end of last year, sterling traded at USD1.25, the single currency around USD1.04, and the buck was buying some JPY157.
The yield on the US 10-year Treasury was quoted at 4.12% early Wednesday, unchanged from where it stood at the time of the London equities close on Tuesday. The yield on the US 30-year Treasury was steady at 4.80%.
In London, trade lacked impetus in early stages of Wednesday's abbreviated trading day. Fresnillo, the FTSE 100's star performer this year, was the worst of the lot early Wednesday, down 2.3%. Shares in the precious metal miner are up over five-fold this year. Fellow miner Endeavour was down 1.8% on Wednesday, but has risen almost three-fold this year.
One of the better performers on Wednesday was Diageo, up 0.3%. However, shares in the brewer have slumped over 35% so far this year.
Elsewhere in London, Digital 9 added 0.9%. It has sealed the sale of its Atlantic and Irish Sea subsea fibre business, Aqua Comms. The investor in internet infrastructure, such as data centres and subsea fibre, will net GBP34.0 million from the sale, topping a June valuation of GBP32.4 million.
"The board intends to return proceeds, net of anticipated future working capital needs (being approximately a third of the proceeds), to shareholders by way of a pro‑rata compulsory capital redemption, which is expected to facilitate the most efficient and cost-effective return of the proceeds to shareholders," Digital 9 said. "Future working capital needs include the necessary ongoing operational cost commitments through to the final wind down of the company, following future anticipated sale processes for Elio Networks and Arqiva."
Digital 9, back in January 2024, put forward plans for a managed wind-down. Shareholders backed the proposal in March of that year.
A barrel of Brent fell to USD61.05 on Wednesday, from USD61.44 at the time of the London equities close on Tuesday. Gold bought USD4,322.37 an ounce early Wednesday, down from USD4,366.20 at the time of the London equities close on Tuesday.
By Eric Cunha, Alliance News news editor
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