By Sukriti Gupta
(Reuters) -Britain’s blue-chip FTSE 100 index rose on Tuesday to a record close for a second straight session, driven once again by gains in the heavyweight mining sector on the back of strong copper prices.
The FTSE 100 closed up 0.1% at 9,023.81 points, notching up a record even as the domestically oriented midcap FTSE 250 lost 0.4%.
Data showed Britain borrowed more than expected in June as a jump in inflation pushed up the government’s debt costs.
British finance minister Rachel Reeves said that the country continued to depend on “the goodwill of strangers” to cover shortfalls in its public finances and that she would focus on bringing down the cost of borrowing.
Industrial miners led sectoral gains with a 2.3% rise, tracking copper prices [MET/L] which were buoyed by hopes for firmer Chinese demand. Glencore rose 3.1%, Rio Tinto was up 2.2%, and Antofagasta added 1.8%.
By contrast, the aerospace and defence index led sectoral losses, falling 1.9%.
In company news, food catering firm Compass Group rose 5.4%, after it agreed to buy European premium food services business Vermaat Groep for about 1.5 billion euros ($1.8 billion), including debt, and also raised its annual profit forecast.
Energy firm Centrica surged 4.8% after Britain approved the 38 billion pound ($51 billion) Sizewell C nuclear plant in eastern England. The company holds a 15% stake in the project.
Legal & General lost 2.1% after RBC Capital Markets downgraded the British insurer to “underperform” from “sector perform”.
Greencore jumped 12%, to top the midcap FTSE 250, after the convenience food manufacturer raised its annual profit expectations.
Pennon rose 2.5% after J.P.Morgan upgraded the water company to “overweight” from “neutral”. Peers United Utilities and Severn Trent both added more than 2.2%.
Kier Group fell 4.9% after it said that its CEO Andrew Davies would be stepping down, and named insider Stuart Togwell as his successor, effective November 1, 2025.
(Reporting by Sukriti Gupta; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli and David Holmes)
