On Monday, London’s FTSE 100 remained close to the 10,000 threshold, supported by increases in precious metal mining companies and defense sector stocks, following U.S. military actions in Venezuela that raised geopolitical apprehensions. The blue-chip FTSE 100 rose 0.1% to 9,969.45 points by 1130, having briefly topped the 10,000-point milestone for the first time last week. Meanwhile, the domestically focused mid-cap index was flat. The FTSE 100 index recorded significant gains in 2025, surpassing the performance of Europe’s STOXX 600 and the United States’ S&P 500, largely driven by robust advancements in commodity-linked sectors and anticipations of further monetary policy easing by the Bank of England.
On Monday, global headlines focused on the United States’ capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro over the weekend, prompting investors to closely monitor the outlook for the oil-rich nation. Safe-havens such as gold and silver surged, lifting an index tracking precious metal miners by 4%. The index ranked as one of the leading sectoral performers in 2025. Geopolitical uncertainty also lifted aerospace and defence stocks by 3.6%, with BAE Systems and Babcock International up 4.6% each, while Chemring added 3.1%.
Oil prices remained relatively stable, as sufficient global supplies mitigated worries regarding the potential effects on oil flows. Energy stocks such as Shell and BP were marginally lower. Among individual stocks, Ashmore experienced a notable increase of 12.6%, reaching a one-year high. The fund manager specializing in emerging markets possesses Venezuelan debt that experienced a rally subsequent to Maduro’s capture.
Online auction operator Auction Technology opened a new tab, experiencing a 19.2% increase after rejecting a total of 11 buyout proposals from its largest shareholder, FitzWalter Capital, which were deemed to significantly undervalue the British online auction operator and its future prospects. Bunzl opened a new tab and fell 2.4% after brokerage Exane BNP Paribas downgraded the business supplies distributor to “neutral” from “outperform”.