Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on September 24, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 21, 2026
Add as preferred source on GoogleFTSE 100 climbed 0.3% as mining and defence stocks surged. Investors assessed Fed Chair Powell's comments on interest rates, impacting market sentiment.
(Reuters) -Britain's FTSE 100 closed higher on Wednesday, led by miners and defence stocks, while investors assessed corporate updates and measured comments by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.
The benchmark FTSE 100 reversed earlier losses to gain 0.3%.
An index of industrial metal miners rose 3% after copper prices on the London Metal Exchange jumped to their highest level in over 15 months. [MET/L]
Antofagasta gained the most in the FTSE 100 with a 9.3% rise, while Glencore added nearly 3%.
Miner Anglo American rose 4.7% after Angola's state diamond firm Endiama bid for a minority stake in its diamond unit - De Beers.
The aerospace and defence sector rose 1.3%, mirroring gains in European peers after U.S. President Donald Trump, in an abrupt rhetorical shift, said he believed Ukraine could retake all of its territory now occupied by Russia.
Babcock International Group was among the top FTSE gainers, up 4.3%, while BAE Systems rose 2.2%.
Wall Street's main indexes were subdued in choppy trading on the day. [.N]
Traders were digesting comments made on Tuesday by Powell, who said the central bank needed to continue balancing the competing risks of high inflation and a weakening job market in its coming interest rate decisions — offering little clarity on the future path of rates.
Still, investors expect the U.S. central bank to cut interest rates in its remaining two meetings of the year.
Among individual stocks, Britain's JD Sports Fashion reported a 13.5% fall in first-half profit. Shares of the British sportswear retailer were down 0.8%.
The domestically focused FTSE 250 closed down 0.02%.
Pinewood Technologies slipped the most in the FTSE 250, down 14.9%, after the British auto retailer projected its 2025 EBITDA below analysts' consensus, according to Berenberg.
Baltic Classifieds Group's fell 5.1%, after the company reported results below expectations.
Conversely, Goodwin jumped 19.7% in the FTSE 250, after the mechanical engineering firm announced that its unit - Goodwin Steel Castings, had entered a strategic collaboration with Northrop Grumman International Trading.
(Reporting by Sanchayaita Roy in BengaluruEditing by Maju Samuel and Gareth Jones)
The FTSE 100 closed higher, driven by gains in mining and defence stocks, as investors reacted to corporate updates and comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.
Antofagasta experienced the largest rise in the FTSE 100, with a 9.3% increase in its stock price.
Powell mentioned the need for the central bank to balance the risks of high inflation against a weakening job market in upcoming interest rate decisions.
The aerospace and defence sector rose by 1.3%, reflecting gains in European peers following supportive comments from U.S. President Donald Trump regarding Ukraine.
JD Sports Fashion reported a 13.5% decline in first-half profit, leading to a 0.8% drop in its shares.
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