London, January 9, 2026, 11:36 GMT — Regular session
- FTSE 100 up 0.4% and FTSE 250 up 0.2%, rebounding after two sessions of losses
- Glencore jumps about 10% on early Rio Tinto talks; Rio slips
- Oil-linked shares firm as crude rises; traders await the U.S. jobs report
London stocks edged higher on Friday, with Glencore’s sharp rise on takeover talk helping to steady the UK stock market after two down days. The FTSE 100 was up about 0.4% at roughly 10,088 points, with miners dominating both the winners and losers list.
This matters now because London’s main index still behaves like a bet on global growth and deal risk: miners, oil and banks do a lot of the heavy lifting. Investors were also reluctant to lean too hard either way before U.S. payrolls data and a possible Supreme Court ruling on President Donald Trump’s tariffs — a combination traders flagged as a volatility trigger.
Thursday’s close had already shown the market’s mood: the FTSE 100 ended flat at 10,044.7 after a record high earlier in the week, with energy and retail weakness cancelling out defence gains. Shell slid after warning of a fourth-quarter loss in its chemicals and products unit, while Associated British Foods sank after cutting its annual profit view.
The day’s main catalyst was the mining tie-up chatter. Rio and Glencore said late on Thursday they were in early talks, with the expectation of an all-share buyout — paying with stock rather than cash — for “some or all” of Glencore; a deal would create a mining giant valued at nearly $207 billion, Reuters reported. Under UK takeover rules, Rio has until Feb. 5 to make a formal offer or say it will not proceed, and Berenberg analyst Richard Hatch said “the market (rightly or wrongly) views iron ore as a commodity facing price decline.” reuters.com
Even with Glencore’s jump, scepticism hung over the move. Morningstar chief equity strategist Michael Field said, “We’ve seen this before where deal talks in this industry roll on for a few months and then fall apart,” a reminder that headline synergies can fade once due diligence starts. reuters.com
Retail was messier. Sainsbury’s slid after it reported a 3.4% rise in underlying sales for the Christmas quarter — a like-for-like measure that strips out fuel — as strong grocery demand offset weaker general merchandise and clothing. It kept its full-year retail profit outlook of more than 1 billion pounds, with CEO Simon Roberts pointing to “value, quality, service and availability” as the pitch to shoppers. reuters.com
Anglo American was another bright spot, helped by deal mechanics rather than metal prices. A European Commission filing signalled the miner’s proposed merger with Canada’s Teck Resources is headed for EU antitrust approval under a simplified procedure, with a decision due by Feb. 10; a separate review under the bloc’s Foreign Subsidies Regulation is due by Feb. 3.
Macro nerves were never far away. A Reuters survey of economists, cited in the ADP report earlier this week, put expected December U.S. nonfarm payroll growth at 60,000 and the unemployment rate at 4.5%, after ADP estimated private hiring rose by 41,000 — numbers that would reinforce the idea the labour market is cooling.
Oil prices added another tailwind to the UK’s heavyweight energy names. Brent was up about 0.7% at $62.42 a barrel by 1106 GMT, after gains of more than 3% on Thursday, as traders weighed Iran unrest and the risk of disruption to Venezuelan flows; Saxo Bank’s Ole Hansen said “Iran protests seem to be gathering momentum.” Some analysts also pointed to rising global inventories as a cap on how far crude can run. reuters.com
