UK equities rallied in afternoon trade on Monday to send the FTSE 100 to a new all-time high, settling above the 10,000 mark for the first time in history, as commodity and defence stocks powered ahead on the back of geopolitical developments.
The Footsie was trading within a narrow range for most of the session, but managed to jump around 40 points in the last hour of trade to finish up 0.5% at 10,004.57 following a solid start on Wall Street.

Geopolitics across the Americas were in focus after the America's weekend assault on Venezuela - including the capture of president Nicolas Maduro - and president Donald Trump's assertion that America is now running the owner of the world's largest oil reserves.

Brent crude was 1.3% higher at $61.51 a barrel, while precious metal prices jumped back towards their recent record highs.

"The oil price itself hasn't made particularly big moves, with markets betting global supply is more than capable of offsetting any short-term issues in the South American country," said AJ Bell's head of financial analysis Danni Hewson.

"Despite concerns about ongoing geopolitical tensions around the globe, markets have remained bullish today, even as some investors continued to seek out those perceived safe havens."

On the macro front, the Bank of England's latest monthly Money and Credit report showed that mortgage approvals for house purchases fell to 64,530 from 65,010 in October. Net borrowing of mortgage debt rose to £4.5bn in November, following a decrease of £1bn to £4.2bn in October.

Commodity, defence stocks jump

London's heavyweight mining sector was performing well in afternoon trade as stocks tracked commodity prices higher, with Antofagasta, Endeavour Mining, Fresnillo and Anglo American all up at least 3% a piece. Gold, silver and copper prices were up 3.0%, 8.8% and 4.3% respectively,

Aerospace and defence peers Babcock, BAE Systems and Rolls-Royce were also on the up as speculation mounts about what the future will hold for geopolitical relationships across the Americas.

Johnson Matthey shot 5% higher after an upgrade to 'buy' from 'hold' at Berenberg, which highlighted the potential for consensus earnings upgrades and the stock's correlation with precious metal proxies.

Emerging markets asset manager Ashmore jumped 7% due to its exposure to Venezuelan debt. In the November 2025 update on its SICAV Emerging Markets Sovereign Debt Fund, Ashmore cited Venezuela as its biggest country exposure, at 7.1% of the fund.

Outside the FTSE 350, Auction Technology surged 24% after the online auction operator said it has rejected 11 unsolicited buyout proposals from its largest shareholder FitzWalter Capital.

Looking ahead to the rest of the week, retailers will be in focus, with Next due to release a fourth-quarter trading statement on Tuesday, while Marks & Spencer will update on Christmas trading on Thursday and Sainsbury's releases a third-quarter trading statement on Friday.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 10,004.57 0.54%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 22,593.93 0.82%
techMARK (TASX) 5,672.47 1.09%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Antofagasta (ANTO) 3,459.00p 6.23%
Babcock International Group (BAB) 1,347.00p 5.81%
BAE Systems (BA.) 1,851.00p 5.53%
Fresnillo (FRES) 3,496.00p 4.30%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 5,310.00p 4.12%
Relx plc (REL) 3,090.00p 3.59%
Anglo American (AAL) 3,133.00p 3.06%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 1,231.50p 2.88%
Experian (EXPN) 3,427.00p 2.85%
London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) 9,040.00p 2.68%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Admiral Group (ADM) 3,054.00p -2.99%
British American Tobacco (BATS) 4,067.00p -2.91%
DCC (CDI) (DCC) 4,424.00p -2.64%
Unilever (ULVR) 4,699.00p -2.56%
Imperial Brands (IMB) 3,047.00p -2.50%
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 135.65p -2.02%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 322.70p -1.71%
Metlen Energy & Metals (MTLN) 45.10p -1.64%
BT Group (BT.A) 180.90p -1.55%
AstraZeneca (AZN) 13,384.00p -1.53%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Ceres Power Holdings (CWR) 239.80p 11.74%
Trustpilot Group (TRST) 169.10p 7.37%
Ashmore Group (ASHM) 187.00p 6.86%
W.A.G Payment Solutions (EWG) 116.00p 6.42%
Endeavour Mining (EDV) 3,872.00p 6.08%
Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 2,298.00p 5.22%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 513.50p 4.88%
Greggs (GRG) 1,757.00p 4.77%
BlackRock World Mining Trust (BRWM) 873.00p 4.55%
Chemring Group (CHG) 492.50p 4.12%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Raspberry PI Holdings (RPI) 283.00p -5.22%
Diversified Energy Company (DI) (DEC) 1,030.00p -3.74%
Gamma Communications (GAMA) 881.00p -3.08%
Ithaca Energy (ITH) 157.40p -3.08%
WH Smith (SMWH) 620.50p -2.90%
Ibstock (IBST) 137.80p -2.27%
Energean (ENOG) 887.00p -2.21%
Lion Finance Group (BGEO) 9,015.00p -2.17%
RHI Magnesita N.V. (DI) (RHIM) 2,650.00p -1.67%
SSP Group (SSPG) 202.00p -1.66%