- FTSE up 74 points at 9,940
- Its the last full trading day of 2025
- Miners and precious metals eke up
- Stock polish year's end performance
4.40pm: FTSE floats higher
London stocks finished the last full trading day of 2025 on the front foot, with the FTSE 100 adding 74 points at 9,940.
Across the Atlantic, stocks remained little changed ahead of the release of the minutes from the Fed’s December meeting, due at 2pm Eastern Time.
2.45pm: Wall Street wavers at the open
US stocks slipped at Tuesday’s open ahead as investors awaited the release of the minutes from the Federal Reserve’s December meeting, data which could move markets on one of the last trading days of the year.
Traders will be looking to the minutes for clues on the Fed’s next move, with the majority of bets (about 84%) on the central bank holding rates steady at its January meeting.
The Dow Jones was down about 0.2% at 48,383 points, the Nasdaq slipped 0.1% to 23,452 points and the S&P 500 was down 0.1% at 6,901 points.
1.23pm: US futures steady
US stock futures were little changed on Tuesday, signaling a cautious tone as investors assess recent losses and prepare for one of the final policy signals of the year.
The muted premarket action follows a modest pullback in Wall Street’s major indexes at the start of the week, driven largely by selling pressure in heavyweight technology stocks.
Contracts tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 and Nasdaq traded close to unchanged overnight, reflecting a market in consolidation mode rather than one poised for a strong directional move.
Attention now turns to the release of minutes from the Federal Reserve’s December meeting, due later today. Policymakers cut interest rates for a third consecutive time at that meeting but signaled increasing caution, raising expectations that the pace of easing could slow or pause in 2026. With little major economic data left on the calendar, the minutes represent one of the last events with the potential to move markets before year-end.
Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB, said fading momentum has become a dominant theme as the year draws to a close. “It’s the penultimate trading day of 2025, and the overriding theme is that global stock indices have lost momentum into year end,” Brooks wrote, pointing to strong year-to-date returns and thinner holiday trading conditions.
She noted that US stocks have underperformed global peers by the widest margin since 2009, even as valuations, particularly in the technology sector, have continued to rise. “Ironically, this has happened even though valuations for US companies, especially tech companies, have soared this year,” Brooks wrote, adding that the gap has encouraged some investors to seek opportunities outside US markets.
On the policy front, Brooks played down expectations that the Fed minutes would signal a more aggressive easing path. “We doubt that today’s minutes will shift the dial for markets,” she wrote, warning that bond yields remain a key risk to watch as 2026 approaches, with the US 10-year Treasury yield holding above 4.1% into year-end.
1:05pm: FTSE hitting soft targets in low-volume
The London index threatened to sneak to a new high for the year, amidst quiet off-peak trading on Tuesday. Moreover, the benchmark may even give headline writers a belated Christmas gift if it delivers "the best year since before the pandemic".
Realistically, these are softer targets in low-volume exchanges. Nevertheless, we've got to write something (haven't we).
Tuesday, the last full trading day of 2025, sees the FTSE 100 some 0.5% or 49 points higher at 9,916.
Mining stocks led gains, supported by strength in precious metals, while bank shares also advanced. Fresnillo, Anglo American, Antofagasta and Glencore were among the strongest performers, while major lenders including Barclays, HSBC and Lloyds Banking Group traded higher.
Broader European markets also traded in positive territory as global equities head for their strongest annual performance since 2019.
Despite ongoing geopolitical tensions and policy uncertainty, major indices have posted sizeable gains in 2025, with the FTSE 100 up more than 21% year to date. Sterling was little changed against the US dollar, trading just above the $1.35 level.
9:30am: Miners help FTSE higher
On these quiet in-between days, it doesn't take an awful lot more than slightly positive vibes and low volume to keep the FTSE higher.
Indeed, sentiments in the mining sector are proving concretely positive for London's blue-chip index.
“Fresnillo is the top gainer thanks to strength within the precious metals complex. Miners like Antofagasta, Glencore and Anglo American are also top of the leaderboard. In the UK," Interactive Investor's head of investment Victoria Scholar said in a note.
"Precious metals are trading higher, staging an attempted rebound after gold hit a two-week low on Monday. Nonetheless recent modest weakness fails to take much away from gold's standout performance this year with investors enjoying a gain of over 65% since the start of January."
After an hour and a half of trade, the FTSE 100 was up 15 points at 9,882.
8:05am: FTSE 100 starts a shade higher
London's blue-chip benchmark began Tuesday a smidgen higher, climbing around 9 points, to 9,875, at the start of what will be another quiet trading day for UK stocks.
It comes after Wall Street stocks fell on Monday, the first of the final trading days of 2025. All three major US indexes pulled back. The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined to close 0.5% lower on Monday, while the S&P 500 lost 0.3%. The Nasdaq Composite also slipped 0.5%, weighed by weakness in large-cap tech names including Nvidia and Tesla, which each dropped over 1.2%.
In Asia, overnight, trading was mixed in light volumes ahead of the New Year holidays. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.4%, though the index is still up nearly 25% for the year. South Korea’s Kospi and Taiwan’s Taiex also posted small losses, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 1.1% and Shanghai ended flat. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 edged down 0.1%.
In commodities, volatility returned to precious metals after a sharp pullback from record highs. Gold futures dropped 4.5% on Monday before rebounding early Tuesday, while silver fell 8.7%, its biggest one-day drop since 2021. The declines followed a decision by the Chicago Mercantile Exchange to raise margin requirements on silver futures.
Oil prices saw modest gains on Monday, with U.S. benchmark crude climbing 2.4% to $58.08 per barrel. However, both Brent and WTI were slightly lower in early Tuesday trading.
Treasury yields slipped, with the 10-year yield easing to 4.11%. Traders remain focused on the Federal Reserve’s next move, with minutes from the recent FOMC meeting due later today.