FTSE 100 ends 2025 close to another record high
Stock prices in London closed in the red on Wednesday at the end of a shortened trading day.
Stock prices in London closed in the red on Wednesday at the end of a shortened trading day, but the FTSE 100 index ended the year close to a new record despite a slight retreat on Wednesday.
The FTSE 100 index closed down 17.65 points, 0.2%, at 9,923.06. The FTSE 250 index ended down 75.93 points, 0.3%, at 22,482.43, and the AIM All-Share index closed down 1.07 points, 0.1%, at 765.89.
The FTSE 100 has registered a 22% gain over the course of 2025, ahead of the FTSE 250 index, which has climbed 9.0% and the AIM All-Share index, which has risen 6.4%.
In European equities on Wednesday, the CAC 40 in Paris closed down 0.5% after a shortened day of trading. The DAX 40 is closed. Financial markets in Paris and Frankfurt will be closed on Thursday for the New Year holiday, before reopening on Friday.
During 2025, the CAC 40 has climbed 10% while the DAX 40 is up 22%.
The pound was quoted at 1.3463 dollars at the time of the London equities close on Wednesday, down from 1.3475 dollars at Tuesday’s close. The euro was lower at 1.1754 dollars from 1.1762 dollars. Against the yen, the dollar was trading at 156.62 yen, up from 156.25 yen.
Stocks in New York were called lower. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 were called down 0.1%, while the Nasdaq Composite was called down 0.2%.
The yield on the US 10-year Treasury was quoted at 4.11% on Wednesday, narrowed slightly from 4.12% on Tuesday. The yield on the US 30-year Treasury was unchanged at 4.80%.
Miners have had a strong year on the FTSE 100 index, as Fresnillo shares have more than quintupled amid a rally in precious metal prices. Peers Endeavour Mining and Antofagasta have more than doubled over the course of 2025.
Elsewhere, shares in Babcock and Rolls-Royce have roughly doubled, while BAE Systems has shot up around 49%, in a largely strong 2025 for the aerospace and defence sector.
It has also been a strong year for some high street banking names, with Lloyds Banking Group adding around 79%, Barclays some 78% and NatWest 62%. Asia-focused Standard Chartered and HSBC have risen 84% and 50%, respectively.
Not faring as well, brewer Diageo has shed around 37% in 2025, while distribution and services firm Bunzl has also dropped 37%.
Advertising firm WPP would have been the worst FTSE 100-listed performer, slumping around 59%, were it not for its relegation from the index earlier this month.
Elsewhere among mid-caps, travel retail company WH Smith dropped 46% this year, with the bulk of that plunge coming from a single trading day in August, when an investigation found profit had been overstated in its North American division.
On AIM, financial technology provider Fiinu is the leading light, with shares closing at 8.48p on Wednesday, having ended last year at 0.5p.
In London on Wednesday, miners weakened after strong gains on Tuesday, with Fresnillo down 2.3% and Endeavour Mining 0.8% lower.
Elsewhere, among mid-caps, Senior shares climbed 0.5% as it prepared to start a £40 million share buyback programme after it completed the sale of its Aerostructures business to Sullivan Street Partners.
The disposal of the division to the London-based mid-market buyout firm was first announced back in July.
Senior will receive an initial £150 million consideration, with the remaining £50 million expected in the first half of 2026, depending on the 2025 earnings performance of Aerostructures.
Senior says it will use the initial cash proceeds to reduce debt and to fund the share buyback. This is expected to start following the release of the company’s annual results on March 2.
Princes Group shares closed down 1.2% as it said its parent company NewPrinces Spa has completed the acquisition of Plasmon Srl from Kraft Heinz Co for 124.3 million euros in cash.
The Liverpool, England-based food and beverage firm said Plasmon is a newly established company, which owns the business related to the manufacturing, packaging, marketing, selling and distribution of baby food and speciality nutrition food products.
This includes the number one baby food brand in Italy, Plasmon, as well as other brands including Nipiol, BiAglut, Aproten and Dieterba.
Princes said subsidiary Princes Italia Spa has entered 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 AIM market, MobilityOne shares more than doubled as it said its Malaysia subsidiary has received conditional approval from Labuan’s financial services authority to establish an additional subsidiary to carry on 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 establish a subsidiary in Labuan to be named MBO Bank (Labuan) Ltd.
MobilityOne said the purpose of MBO Bank is to offer a “full suite of offshore financial services” through a Shariah-compliant platform to international clients, under the Labuan Financial Services Authority regulatory framework.
Due to the preparatory work required to meet the conditions of Labuan FSA approval, MobilityOne said it does not anticipate recording any revenue or earnings from the Islamic digital banking business in 2026.
Brent oil was slightly higher at 61.56 dollars a barrel at the time of the London equities close on Wednesday, from 61.44 dollars late on Tuesday.
Gold was lower at 4,315.00 dollars an ounce at Wednesday’s close, against 4,366.20 dollars on Tuesday.
The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 were Pershing Square, up 52p at 4,846p; Anglo American, up 29p at 3,085p; Marks & Spencer, up 2.5p at 330p; British Land, up 2.4p at 403.8p; and 3i Group, up 19p at 3,263p.
The biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 were Fresnillo, down 78p at 3,334p; Croda International, down 61p at 2,695p; Beazley, down 12p at 832p; Experian, down 46p at 3,363p; and Diploma, down 60p at 5,295p.
There are no local corporate events scheduled for the remainder of the holiday-shortened week.
When the market reopens on Friday, there will be swathe of manufacturing PMI readings across the globe.
Contributed by Alliance News.
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