𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

The FTSE 100 closed higher on Wednesday as gains in property stocks and housebuilders offset a slump in mining stocks as metals prices fell.

The FTSE 100 closed up 32.78 points, 0.3%, at 10,461.63. The FTSE 250 ended up 175.05 points, 0.8%, at 23,101.52, but the AIM All-Share fell 5.22 points, 0.7%, to 777.37.

UK warehouse landlord Segro jumped 17% after it rejected a £12.6 billion takeover proposal from US logistics property giant Prologis.

The FTSE 100-listing said the offer “falls a long way short” of its assessment of the company’s value and was “opportunistically timed”.

Shore Capital analyst Andrew Saunders called the bid “underwhelming”.

The offer looks “highly inadequate in our view and not surprisingly has been rejected by the Segro board”, he added.

Mr Saunders said shareholders “should demand a far better offer from Prologis for it to be taken seriously and control to be ceded”.

The proposed bid sparked gains in other property exposed stocks – with Tritax Big Box REIT up 6.4% and British Land and Land Securities both up 4.1%.

Also supporting property stocks and housebuilders was a further fall in UK bond yields.

The yield on 10-year gilts fell to 4.69% on Wednesday from 4.75% on Tuesday, continuing its recent decline. Yields had stood as high as 4.84% at Friday’s equity close in London and above 5.0% during the Middle East war.

Progress in talks between the US and Iran, helping cool the oil price and inflationary worries, plus hopes for a quick political transition in the UK have boosted the mood, with expectations for a rate hike in the UK this year diminishing.

Housebuilders Barratt Redrow and Persimmon rose 6.6% and 5.8% respectively, with further support coming from sector peer Berkeley Group which reported full-year profit a touch ahead of guidance.

In European equity markets on Wednesday, the CAC 40 in Paris ended up 0.5%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt fell 0.6%.

In Germany, Rheinmetall plunged 19% after the German defence ministry confirmed press reports that it had scrapped a multibillion-euro order for six warships.

Germany had originally ordered the F126 anti-submarine frigates from the Dutch group Damen Naval.

The defence ministry said on Wednesday that it “decided not to proceed with the construction of a total of six F126-class frigates. This is in reaction to the significant delays affecting the project”. It will now order eight smaller ships from the German contractor TKMS, the ministry said.

The F126 contract had been widely expected to go to Rheinmetall after its chief executive, Armin Papperger, told reporters last year that the firm was in talks to handle the work.

JPMorgan analyst David Perry said the news is a major setback for Rheinmetall and means the firm probably will not make its order intake target in the second quarter of 2026 or for the year as a whole.

In New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 1.0%, the S&P 500 was 0.7% higher and the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.6%.

The pound traded at 1.3167 dollars on Wednesday afternoon, lower from 1.3198 dollars on Tuesday. Against the euro, sterling eased to 1.1591 euros from 1.1595 euros on Tuesday.

The euro traded lower against the greenback, at 1.1358 dollars on Wednesday against 1.1382 dollars on Tuesday. Against the yen, the dollar was trading at 161.76 yen, up from 161.54 yen, on Tuesday.

The US 10-year Treasury yield traded at 4.41% on Wednesday, narrowed from 4.49% on Tuesday. The US 30-year Treasury yield traded at 4.86%, trimmed from 4.93% on Tuesday.

Oil prices fell further as shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz picked up, with Brent crude edging below 75 dollars a barrel for the first time since the start of the Middle East war.

JPMorgan analyst Natesha Kaneva said: “While the magnitude and duration of the oil shock evolved broadly as expected, the market has rebalanced through a meaningfully different mix of demand losses and inventory withdrawals than we initially assumed.”

Brent crude for August delivery traded lower at 73.45 dollars a barrel on Wednesday, down from 77.10 dollars on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the price of gold declined further as expectations of tighter monetary policy in the US continued to weigh on bullion, compounded by a firm dollar, said Tony Sage, of Critical Metals Corp.

The US Federal Reserve is expected to raise interest rates twice this year, a trajectory that has reinforced downward pressure on gold, Mr Sage said.

Gold traded at 4,014.40 dollars an ounce on Wednesday, down from 4,134.67 dollars on Tuesday. Elsewhere, the price of silver dipped 4.1% while copper fell 2.8%.

The declines in oil and gold saw BP and Shell fall 3.7% and 1.9%, while Glencore, Anglo American and Fresnillo slid 2.5%, 2.6% and 2.8% respectively.

On the FTSE 250, Gamma Communications fell 5.4% as a possible suitor withdrew from the bidding process.

Earlier this month, the Newbury-based provider of cloud communications and voice services reported a possible offer from a consortium made up of Rhode Island-based private equity firm Providence Equity Partners and London-based peer Epiris.

On Wednesday, Providence disclosed that it was no longer part of the consortium bidding for Gamma, and did not intend to make an offer.

Epiris said “it is continuing to consider its options”. Earlier in June, London-based private equity firm Oakley Capital also backed down from making an offer for Gamma.

But B&M European Value Retail soared 13% as it named Atheeq Akbar, currently vice president of commercial finance at Asda, as its new chief financial officer.

Mr Akbar will not join B&M until February of next year, which broker Peel Hunt said “is not ideal, although good people usually come with a decent wait”.

“We view this as a solid appointment, forming part of a broader overhaul of the finance function,” Peel Hunt said.

The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 were Segro, up 129.40p at 871.40p, Games Workshop, up 1,460.00p at 21,800.00p, Barratt Redrow, up 17.50p at 281.00p, Tritax Big Box REIT, up 9.70p at 161.50p, and Howden Joinery, up 47.50p at 846.50p.

The biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 were Endeavour Mining, down 150.00p at 3,754.00p, BP, down 18.60p at 480.05p, Metlen Energy & Metals, down 1.34p at 41.32p, Fresnillo, down 80.00p at 2,773.00p and Anglo American, down 98.00p at 3,612.00p.

Thursday’s global economic calendar has unemployment figures in Australia overnight and US inflation and GDP data.

Thursday’s local corporate calendar has full-year results from motor and cycling retailer Halfords, online greeting cards and gift retailer Moonpig and money transfer services provider Wise.

Contributed by Alliance News