London, Jan 22, 2026, 11:04 GMT — Regular session
London stocks rose on Thursday, with the FTSE 100 (.FTSE) up 0.7% at 10,212.91 by 1104 GMT. Copper, Brent crude and gold were lower on the day, while sterling was firmer and UK 10-year gilt yields dipped.
The UK market has been trading off geopolitics as much as earnings. Risk appetite improved after U.S. President Donald Trump ruled out using force over Greenland and stepped back from tariff threats aimed at eight European NATO allies, easing a dispute that had rattled global markets.
Wednesday showed how fast the tone can flip. The FTSE 100 closed up 0.1% after recovering from early losses, with miners leading the boost and Rio Tinto jumping 5.2% on stronger-than-expected quarterly iron ore and copper production.
With the tariff noise quieter, investors in London are back to the Bank of England. “Despite the uptick in the consumer price index, we still see Bank Rate on a downward direction,” said Sanjay Raja, chief UK economist at Deutsche Bank. Reuters
Morgan Stanley pushed its call for the BoE’s next cut to March from February after December headline inflation rose to 3.4%. It now expects 25 basis points — one-hundredth of a percentage point — of easing in March, July and November.
Senior (SNR.L) was one of the standout movers, up 8.3% at 247 pence and hitting its highest since 2018 after raising its annual profit outlook for a second time in two months on aerospace strength. Analysts expect an adjusted pretax profit of 44.7 million pounds for the year ended December 2025, versus 33 million pounds a year earlier, according to LSEG data.
Beazley (BEZG.L) fell as much as 7% early on before recovering to trade 1% lower after it rejected a Zurich Insurance proposal of 1,280 pence per share, saying it materially undervalued the specialist insurer. Beazley said the offer was below a previously undisclosed 1,315p approach last June.
Zurich’s interest has turned the sector into a trade. Under UK takeover rules, Zurich has until Feb. 16 to announce a firm intention to make an offer or walk away, and Beazley’s potential bid premium earlier this week helped lift peers such as Hiscox and Lancashire as investors bet on more consolidation.
Retail names are still stuck in a tougher story. JD Sports Fashion (JD.L) said like-for-like sales — growth at stores open at least a year — fell 1.8% in the nine weeks to Jan. 3 and warned of “muted market growth” in 2026/27, in what CEO Regis Schultz called a “volatile consumer backdrop”. Reuters
But the calm looks provisional. “The chaos is far from over and there’ll be ongoing volatility in the markets because of the Trump administration’s erratic foreign policy,” said Kyle Rodda, a senior financial market analyst at Capital.com. “Investors get conditioned to ignore threats because ‘it’ll get walked back,’ until the day it doesn’t get walked back,” said Matthew Tuttle, CEO of Tuttle Capital Management. Reuters
Later on Thursday, investors will look to U.S. PCE inflation data — the Federal Reserve’s preferred price gauge — along with weekly jobless claims, for the next read on rate expectations and the dollar.
