Highlights
- FTSE 100 up 61 points at 10,746
- Miners fight back
- AstraZeneca inks $2bn deal
Blue-chips move higher
London shares moved higher at the open, with the FTSE 100 up 61 points in early trading.
Miners led the way, clawing back some of Monday's losses.
Antofagasta topped the leader board with a 2.1% gain, ahead of Anglo American on 1.8%, Fresnillo on 1.5% and Rio Tinto on 1.3%.
Mining equipment maker Weir Group joined the party, up 1.1%.
The buying spread beyond the diggers. AstraZeneca rose 1.3% after unveiling a $2 billion stake in Summit Therapeutics, while InterContinental Hotels and Burberry both added 1.2%.
Brighter start predicted
The FTSE 100 looks set to ignore the gloom drifting over from Asia, with spread betting firms expecting a 23-point gain at the open after Monday's 10-point slip.
Asian markets fell broadly, with Japan's Nikkei 225 down 1.1%, Korea's Kospi off 0.6% and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong declining 0.4%.
The 10-year US Treasury yield climbed above 5.27%, its highest level in 19 years, which makes borrowing dearer for governments, companies and anyone else with a loan.
Brent crude sat near $107 a barrel, with no breakthrough yet in the US-Iran conflict disrupting traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.
Tech stocks had their own worries after OpenAI reportedly scrapped a new model that failed internal safety checks.
Anthropic's stock market prospectus did little to calm nerves, revealing a $42 billion net loss for 2025, most of it an accounting charge.
The Reserve Bank of Australia is expected to raise rates to 4.60% later today.
