By Graeme Evans
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Copper’s latest price rise today lifted the shares of Rio Tinto, Anglo American and Glencore during a downbeat session for the wider FTSE 100 index.
The commodity is at a two-month high after Freeport McMoRan yesterday declared force majeure on deliveries from its Grasberg copper mine in Papua, Indonesia.
The move, which followed a fatal mud-rush incident earlier this month, cuts supply from the world’s second largest copper mine.
UBS said the development increased the magnitude of forecast 2026 deficits in the global copper market.
Despite tariffs and economic uncertainty, the bank pointed out that copper demand has been resilient in China alongside robust growth in the energy transition sector.
Anglo American followed yesterday’s 5% rise by adding another 2% or 43p to 2714p, while Rio Tinto lifted 125.5p to 4873.5p and Glencore improved 5.15p to 335.4p.
The best performing stock in the FTSE 100 was JD Sports Fashion, which added 2.5p to 90.4p amid improving sentiment on the back of yesterday’s half-year results.
Cyber insurance specialist Beazley was another notable riser amid ongoing disruption at Jaguar Land Rover and the disclosure of big losses at the Co-op following its April attack.
The shares rose 18p to 866.5p, meaning they have lifted more than 10% this month.
The risers board also featured the safety technology conglomerate Halma, which advanced 2% or 58p to 3396p after upgrading revenues guidance for the year.
The FTSE 100 index fell 0.2% or 20.35 points to 9230.8p, with heavyweights AstraZeneca and HSBC among those down 1% during a poor session for European markets.
Defence business Babcock International, whose shares have risen by more than 140% this year, fell 19p to 1211p after posting a trading update.
The group said organic revenue growth and underlying operating margin progress had been in line with expectations in the five months to 31 August.
In the FTSE 250, Petershill Partners jumped 33% after the Goldman Sachs-backed alternative investment group set out plans to return capital to shareholders and de-list from the market.
The company listed in September 2021 but said the share price did not reflect the quality and underlying value of its assets or strong financial performance.
At the bottom of the FTSE 250 index, Mitchells & Butlers fell 5% or 15p to 249.5p after the Harvester and All Bar One owner reported a slower pace of sales growth.
The fourth quarter improvement of 3.1% compared with growth of 5% in the previous three months and 4.7% in the second quarter. Growth year-to-date is 4.2%.
