Gold miners rally as FTSE 100’s record run on knife’s edge
The FTSE 100’s record run, fuelled by a recovery in investor sentiment following a pullback in US tariff threats, was in danger of coming to an end by mid-morning trading on Tuesday.
The blue-chip index opened in the green before dipping 0.2 per cent.
Gold miners led the risers as Endeavour topped five per cent and Fresnillo nearly three per cent.
The price of gold rallied nearly two per cent to $3,377.22 on the back of China, the world’s biggest buyer, returning from a holiday break.
Geopolitical tensions in the first quarter had the price of the precious metal up by more than 25 per cent as investors flocked to the safe haven asset.
On the fallers, Anglo American slumped as much as five per cent after American coal miner Peabody said it was considering walking away from a $3.78bn deal to acquire Anglo assets after a fire at an Australian mine.
Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said: “The FTSE 100 started the week with a bang, yet those early gains quickly faded away
“A mixture of takeover talk and investors reaching for defensive stocks initially gave the UK blue-chip index a lift.”
FTSE 100 on 15-day win streak
The index netted its record 15-day run on Friday as it made a full recovery from President Donald Trump’s tariff onslaught.
Meanwhile, the mid-cap FTSE 250 posted its longest win streak since October 2020 of eight days. The index was broadly flat in early trading on Tuesday.
Global markets plummeted as geopolitical tensions escalated last month. As China fired back at the US with retaliatory tariffs, the FTSE 100 plunged five per cent.
The index hit a low of 7679.48 on April 9 as trade war tensions ramped up.
But after Trump’s climb down on his ‘Liberation Day’ levies markets began to recover.
In Europe, markets edged down on Tuesday morning.
Germany’s Dax was down over one per cent and Cac 40 in Paris 0.5 per cent.
On Wall Street markets had a rocky road to recovery after Trump’s attacks on the Federal Reserve and escalations with China spooked investors.
The S&P 500 closed off 0.6 per cent on Monday and the Dow Jones 0.2 per cent.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq was down 0.7 per cent.
