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London stocks closed lower at the end of the shortened trading day on Wednesday, but the FTSE 100 ended the year close to a new record despite a slight pullback on Wednesday.
The FTSE 100 closed down 17.65 points, or 0.2%, at 9,923.06. The FTSE 250 index closed down 75.93 points, or 0.3%, at 22,482.43 points. Purpose The All-Share Index closed down 1.07 points, or 0.1%, at 765.89 points.
The FTSE 100 is up 22% in 2025, ahead of the FTSE 250, which is up 9.0%, and the AIM All Share Index, which is up 6.4%.
European stocks on Wednesday, CAC 40 Paris The stock ended down 0.5% after the shortened trading day. The DAX 40 is closed. financial markets in paris and frankfurt It was closed on Thursday for the New Year’s holiday and reopened on Friday.
During 2025, the CAC 40 Index rose 10%, while the DAX 40 Index gained 22%.
At the close in London on Wednesday, the pound was quoted at $1.3463, down from $1.3475 at Tuesday’s close. The euro fell to $1.1754 from $1.1762. The USD/JPY exchange rate rose from 156.25 yen to 156.62 yen.
New York stocks were lower. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 fell 0.1%, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.2%.
The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note was at 4.11% on Wednesday, narrowing slightly from 4.12% on Tuesday. The U.S. 30-year Treasury bond yield remained unchanged at 4.80%.
Mining stocks performed strongly in the FTSE 100, with Fresnillo shares more than fivefold on higher precious metal prices. Peers Endeavor Mining and Antofagasta more than doubled output in 2025.
Elsewhere, with shares of Babcock and Rolls-Royce roughly doubling, while BAE Systems soaring around 49%, the aerospace and defense sector is set to be fundamentally strong in 2025.
It’s also been a strong year for some high-street banks, with Lloyds Banking Group up around 79%, Barclays up around 78% and NatWest up 62%. Focus on Asia Standard Chartered Bank HSBC and HSBC rose 84% and 50% respectively.
It’s not all good either, with beer maker Diageo down around 37% in 2025, and distribution and services company Bunzl also down 37%.
advertising agency WPP Were it not for a downgrade from the index earlier this month, the company would have been the worst performer on the FTSE 100, down around 59%.
Among other mid-cap stocks, travel retail company WH Smith is down 46% this year, with much of the fall coming on a single session in August when an investigation found profits at its North American unit had been overstated.
On AIM, financial technology provider Fiinu was the leader, with shares closing at 8.48p on Wednesday, compared with 0.5p last year.
In London, mining stocks weakened on Wednesday after strong gains on Tuesday, with Fresnillo down 2.3% and Endeavor Mining down 0.8%.
Elsewhere, among mid-cap stocks, Senior shares rose 0.5% as the company prepared to launch a 40 million pound share buyback program after completing the sale of its aerospace structures business to Sullivan Street Partners.
The sale of the unit to the London-based mid-market buyout firm was first announced back in July.
Senior will receive an initial consideration of £150 million, with the remaining £50 million expected to be received in the first half of 2026, subject to Aerostructurals’ earnings performance in 2025.
Senior said it will use the initial cash proceeds to reduce debt and fund stock buybacks. This is expected to begin after the company releases its annual results on March 2.
Princes Group shares closed down 1.2% after the company said its parent NewPrinces Spa had completed the acquisition of Plasmon Srl from Kraft Heinz Co. for 124.3 million euros in cash.
Plasmon is a newly formed company with operations related to the manufacturing, packaging, marketing, sales and distribution of baby food and specialty nutritional foods, the Liverpool, UK-based food and beverage company said.
These include Italy’s number one baby food brand Plasmon, as well as other brands such as Nipiol, BiAglut, Aproten and Dieterba.
Princes said subsidiary Princes Italia Spa has entered into an operating asset lease agreement with Plasmon, which will take effect on Thursday.
Under the terms of the lease, all operations related to the Plasmon business will be carried out by Princes Italia.
On the Alternative Investment Market (AIM), MobilityOne’s share price more than doubled as the company said its Malaysian unit has received conditional approval from the Labuan Financial Services Authority to set up another subsidiary to carry out its Islamic digital banking business.
The Kuala Lumpur-based e-commerce payment solutions provider said its wholly-owned subsidiary MobilityOne Sdn Bhd, also known as M1 Malaysia, will set up a subsidiary in Labuan called MBO Bank (Labuan) Ltd.
MobilityOne said MBO Bank aims to provide a “full suite of offshore financial services” to international clients through a Shariah-compliant platform under the regulatory framework of the Labuan Financial Services Authority.
MobilityOne said it does not expect to record any revenue or profit from Islamic digital banking in 2026 due to preparations required to meet the conditions for approval from the Labuan Financial Services Authority.
Brent crude oil prices edged up to $61.56 a barrel at the close in London on Wednesday, up from $61.44 late on Tuesday.
Gold prices fell to $4,315.00 an ounce at Wednesday’s close, compared with Tuesday’s closing price of $4,366.20 an ounce.
The biggest gainers on the FTSE 100 were Pershing Square, up 52p to 4,846p; Anglo American, up 29p to 3,085p; Marks & Spencer, up 2.5p to 330p; British Land, up 2.4p to 403.8p; 3i Group Up 19p to 3,263p.
The biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 were Fresnillo, down 78p to 3,334p; Croda International, down 61p to 2,695p; Beazley, down 12p to 832p; Experian, down 46p to 3,363p; and Diploma, down 60p to 5,295p.
There are no local business events scheduled for the remainder of the holiday-shortened week.
A slew of manufacturing PMI data will be released globally on Friday when markets reopen.
Contributed by Alliance News.