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The FTSE 100 hit another record high on Tuesday, boosted by HSBC, while Wall Street extended further gains ahead of key tech earnings and central bank meetings.
The index rose 42.92 points, or 0.4%, to close at 9,696.74, a new closing high. Earlier, it had set a new intra-day high of 9,727.09.
The FTSE 250 fell 27.36 points, or 0.1%, to 22,484.12, and Objective The All-Share fell 1.61 points, or 0.2%, to 770.79.
HSBC rose 4.6% after raising guidance following better-than-expected third-quarter results.
The Asia-focused, London-based bank said pre-tax profit fell 14% to $7.30 billion (£5.50 billion) in the three months ended September 30, down from $8.48 billion (£6.38 billion) a year earlier.
The profit included a $1.1 billion provision related to the Bernard Madoff investment fraud.
Shore Capital analyst Gary Greenwood said that excluding the Madoff-related allegation, performance in the third quarter was “better than expected”.
Analysts at Barclays said underlying pre-tax profit was 9% ahead of expectations driven by stable asset quality as well as revenue.
Full-year guidance has been upgraded, and “consensus confirms our view of a significantly stronger outlook for banking net interest income post-2025”, the broker said.
In Europe on Tuesday, the CAC 40 in Paris closed down 0.3%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt closed down 0.1%.
Stocks were high in New York at the time London to close. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.6%, the S&P 500 was 0.2% higher, and the Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.5%.
Data showed US consumer confidence was virtually unchanged in October, with Americans marking the government shutdown as a major concern.
The Conference Board’s consumer confidence index slipped 1.0 to 94.6 in October, from a revised 95.6 in September. This was still slightly better than the 93.4 average forecast quoted by Goldman Sachs.
“The longer the shutdown continues, the more likely it is that confidence will continue to decline as federal workers and private government contractors remain without pay,” said Grace Zwemer at Oxford Economics.
The yield on US 10-year Treasuries was reported at 3.98%, down from 4.02% on Monday. The yield on the US 30-year Treasury fell to 4.55% from 4.59%.
At the close of the London equities market on Tuesday, the pound fell to $1.3279, down from $1.3331 on Monday.
The euro rose to $1.1660 from $1.1639. The dollar was trading at 152.14 against the yen, down from 153.04.
While sterling fell, the yield on UK 10-year bonds remained steady at 4.40%, reports show Government The government is facing a larger than expected gap in public finances as it prepares for next month’s Budget.
The BBC and the Financial Times reported that the government’s official forecaster suggested a decline in the UK’s productivity performance could lead to the Chancellor’s removal from office. Rachel Reeves It faces a £20 billion gap in meeting its tax and spending rules.
The Treasury declined to comment on “speculation” ahead of the final forecast from the Office for Budget Responsibility, which will be published with the Budget on 26 November.
The OBR will hand its final draft forecast, including productivity, to the Treasury on Friday.
Leading the FTSE 100 was Airtel Africa, which climbed 16% after raising capital expenditure forecasts based on better sales, earnings and subscriber numbers reported in the first half of the financial year.
London-based Airtel, which operates telecommunications and mobile money services in Africa, said pre-tax profit rose to $656 million (£493 million) in the half to September 30 from $178 million (£134 million) a year earlier.
The company said that Airtel Money is ready for listing in the first half of 2026.
Deutsche Bank He believes the listing will force investors to value Airtel Africa based on the sum of the parts and push its share price “significantly higher”.
“We estimate the group’s value could reach at least 380p per share,” Deutsche said.
Spirax Serco rose 1.2% after UBS upgraded its rating to “buy” from “neutral”, highlighting a key growth driver in its Electric Thermal Solutions business.
UBS said ETS offers “the most overlooked potential across growth, margins and returns”, while expectations for the firm’s Steam Thermal Solutions unit in China and Watson-Marlow also appear “very low”.
“We expect all divisions to contribute positively and the valuation is not reflecting further sustainable growth, so we upgrade to buy,” the broker said.
On AIM, Idox jumped 25% as it agreed to be bought by a newly formed company indirectly owned by investment funds of privately held investment firm Long Path Partners.
Under the deal, Idox shareholders will receive 71.5p per share, 27% higher than Monday’s closing price of 56.40p. This valued Idox’s share capital at £339.5 million.
On Tuesday, gold traded at $3,957.04 an ounce, down from $3,993.32 an ounce on Monday.
After the latest decline, Scope Markets analyst Joshua Mahoney said for traders and investors alike, the question is when this “correction phase” will stop, with gold down 10% in the past week alone.
“What is worrying for many holders is that we are seeing extreme volatility for an asset that is considered stable in nature, with this month seeing the largest price volatility on record,” he said.
Brent oil traded at $64.33 per barrel on Tuesday, up from $65.99 late Monday.
The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 were Airtel Africa, up 37.8p at 268.4p, HSBC Holdings, up 46.2p at 1,050.2p, Vodafone, up 3.9p at 93.0p, Rolls-Royce, up 26.0p at 1,146.0p and Barclays, up 8.7p at 404.4p.
The biggest fallers were Barrett Redrow, down 9.9p at 393.8p, Burberry, down 25.5p at 1,300.0p, Rentokil Initial, down 8.2p at 431.6p, London Stock Exchange Group, down 180.0p at 9,662.0p and Berkeley Group, down 62.0p. At 4,090.0p.