4th Aug 2026 09:27
(Alliance News) - Stock prices in London opened higher on Tuesday, with mining and defence shares leading gains as investors monitored developments in the Middle East, while a busy day of corporate earnings kept individual stocks in focus.
The FTSE 100 index opened up 48.87 points, 0.5%, at 10,907.22. The FTSE 250 was up 124.21 points, 0.5%, at 24,349.72, and the AIM all-share was up 2.67 points, 0.4%, at 771.28.
The Cboe UK 100 was up 0.5% at 1,083.38, the Cboe UK 250 was up 0.5% at 21,131.84, and the Cboe small companies was up 0.3% at 21,131.84.
In European equities on Tuesday, the CAC 40 in Paris was up 0.3%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt was up 0.9%.
Investors continued to watch developments in the Middle East after US President Donald Trump said it was Iran's "last chance" to reach an agreement with Washington.
Trump again postponed military strikes and pledged to continue negotiations at the request of Persian Gulf allies, after previously claiming talks between the US and Iran would begin on Monday and that a deal over the Strait of Hormuz had been reached. Iran has denied that negotiations with the US are taking place.
Meanwhile, Iran's foreign ministry said it was in talks with Oman to establish a safe, temporary shipping route through the strategically important Strait of Hormuz. Later on Monday, a vessel was reported to have come under attack off the coast of Oman, according to an organisation monitoring marine traffic.
Brent crude traded at USD84.91 a barrel early Tuesday, up from USD83.92 late Monday.
The pound was quoted at USD1.3437 early Tuesday, up from USD1.3425 at the London equities close on Monday. Against the euro, the pound rose to EUR1.1672 from EUR1.1669.
The euro traded at USD1.1511, up from USD1.1505. Against the yen, the dollar rose to JPY157.79 from JPY156.78 after Japan and the US confirmed on Monday they had jointly intervened in currency markets last week to halt the yen's slide, which had reached a fresh 40-year low.
It was another busy session for corporate earnings in London.
HSBC, the largest constituent in the FTSE 100, slipped 0.3% despite reporting stronger first-half results and announcing a new USD1 billion share buyback.
The bank posted second-quarter pretax profit of just over USD10 billion, comfortably ahead of a company-compiled consensus estimate of USD9.5 billion.
Mining stocks were among the strongest performers, helping to lift the FTSE 100.
Antofagasta topped the blue-chip index, rising 3.2%, while Anglo American gained 2.4%, Glencore added 2.3%, and Rio Tinto rose 2.2%.
Copper prices climbed to their highest level in two months, nearing USD14,000 a tonne on the London Metal Exchange, as traders monitored rising stockpiles in the US ahead of President Donald Trump's expected decision on import tariffs.
Gold was quoted at USD4,066.12 an ounce early Tuesday, higher than USD4,036.96 on Monday.
Defence stocks were also in demand across Europe, with Babcock up 3.0% in London and BAE Systems gaining 2.7%.
BP advanced 1.3% after reporting first-half revenue of USD123.49 billion, up from USD95.56 billion a year earlier, while pretax profit surged to USD15.19 billion from USD6.01 billion. The energy major increased its interim dividend by 4.0% to 16.98 US cents per share.
Second-quarter upstream production fell to 2.20 million barrels of oil equivalent per day from 2.34 million in the first quarter and 2.30 million a year earlier. BP expects third-quarter upstream production of between 2.10 million and 2.25 million boe/d.
The company also said it plans to market Archaea, its US biogas business and the country's largest renewable natural gas producer, while intending to repay USD1.0 billion of perpetual subordinated hybrid securities.
Segro rose 0.9% after agreeing to a recommended share offer with a partial cash alternative from US logistics property group Prologis, valuing its issued and to-be-issued share capital at around GBP14.0 billion.
At the other end of the FTSE 100, Smith & Nephew dropped 5.8% after cutting its full-year sales growth guidance following a challenging second quarter, with temporary headwinds weighing on growth in its US orthopaedics business.
Coca-Cola Europacific Partners lost 4.3% despite reporting improved first-half earnings.
The bottler posted first-half revenue of EUR10.72 billion, up 4.4% from a year earlier, or 6.1% on a comparable, constant-currency basis. Operating profit rose 6.9% to EUR1.46 billion, while profit after tax increased 5.8% to EUR991 million.
The company reaffirmed its 2026 guidance for revenue growth of 3% to 4% and operating profit growth of around 7%.
On the FTSE 250, Metro Bank slumped 9.5%.
The lender reported first-half underlying revenue of GBP301.0 million, up from GBP286.1 million a year earlier, while pretax profit increased to GBP60.7 million from GBP43.1 million. Metro Bank reaffirmed all of its guidance for 2026 and beyond.
Travis Perkins jumped 16% after reporting first-half pretax profit of GBP47.0 million, up from GBP37.1 million a year earlier.
The builders' merchant said it was seeing encouraging early progress in its operational turnaround and expects market conditions and trading performance in the second half to be broadly comparable with the first six months.
In Asia on Tuesday, the Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo closed up 0.3%. In China, the Shanghai Composite rose 0.3%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong fell 0.8%. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney ended 1.4% higher.
In the US on Monday, Wall Street ended firmly higher, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 1.3%, the S&P 500 rising 1.5% and the Nasdaq Composite gaining 2.2%.
The yield on the US 10-year Treasury was quoted at 4.69%, unchanged from Monday, while the yield on the US 30-year Treasury widened slightly to 5.24% from 5.23%.
Still to come on Tuesday's economic calendar are US trade balance figures, job openings and labour turnover survey, or JOLTS, data, and factory orders.
By Eva Castanedo, Alliance News senior economics reporter
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HSBC HoldingsAnglo AmericanAntofagastaGlencoreRio TintoBabcockBAE SystemsSegroSmith & NephewCoca-cola Euro.Metro BankTravis Perkins