Precious metal miners shone as the price of gold hit record highs amid global trade war fears after President Trump imposed tariffs on China – who reacted in kind.
Gold reached $2,882.50 an ounce, beating several records already for 2025. Swissquote Bank analyst Ipek Ozkardeskaya pointed out that there was no better hedge for protecting a portfolio from Trump worries.
Fresnillo was a strong FTSE 100 performer, up 5.8pc, or 41.5p, to 775p as analysts at JP Morgan raised their target to 1000p from 900p, repeated an ‘overweight’ stance and made it its top pick among EMEA gold miners.
Other precious metal gainers included Endeavour Mining – up 3pc, or 50p, at 1715p – and FTSE 250-listed Hochschild ahead 2.3pc, or 4.2p, at 183.6p.
Strength from the miners helped the FTSE 100 end 0.6pc, or 52.52 points, higher at 8623.29, while the FTSE 250 closed 0.5pc, or 109.62 points, firmer at 20,762.88.
Among other blue-chip gainers, Marks & Spencer continued its advance, rising 3.7pc, or 12.6p, to 357.6p as more industry data showed strong sales momentum in its food business.
M&S grocery sales rose 9.7pc over the 12 weeks to January 25. That helped M&S shrug off a rating downgrade to ‘hold’ from ‘buy’ by analysts at Jefferies.
And Scotland-based electricity generator SSE edged up 0.4pc, or 6.5p, to 1621.5p as it also confirmed steady annual earnings guidance, thanks to increased output of renewable energy.
But DCC Group fell 3.6pc, or 195p, to 5300p as the sales, marketing and support services groups operating profit in its technology segment declined in the third quarter.
Meanwhile, engineer Spirax shed 2.2pc, or 175p, at 7765p after a downgrade to ‘hold’ by analysts at HSBC. Ferrexpo lost 8pc, or 6.4p, to 73.6p, having tumbled on Tuesday after it said a civil claim worth £3bn had been filed against its Ukrainian unit.
And Raspberry Pi fell 0.5pc, or 4p, at 740.5p as analysts at Jefferies downgraded their rating to ‘hold’ from ‘buy’.
But housebuilder Crest Nicholson rallied 6.7pc, or 10.9p, to 173.9p, boosted by an upgrade to ‘buy’ from analysts at Investec.
Elsewhere, Grainger gained 5.5pc, or 11.5p, at 220.5p as the private housing provider’s net rental income rose 15pc year-on-year in the four months to the end of January.
There was a solid market debut on AIM for RC Fornax, a UK-based engineering consultancy, which closed at 34.5p following a successful fundraising of £6.15m at a price of 32.5p each.
Also on AIM, Gfinity leapt 80pc, or 0.04p, to 0.1p after it signed an exclusive licence agreement with 0M Technology Solutions to commercialise its connected video AI technology, Connected IQ.
And Ilika jumped 29.6pc, or 8p, to 35p after its collaboration with the UK Battery Industrialisation Centre successfully demonstrated its ability to scale-up the making of its Goliath battery.
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