London open: Stocks edge down as miners hit by falling copper prices
By Michele Maatouk
Date: Friday 16 Jan 2026
(Sharecast News) - London stocks edged lower in early trade on Friday after the top-flight index hit fresh highs in the previous session, with miners under the cosh as copper prices fell.
At 0900 GMT, the FTSE 100 was down 0.2% at 10,219.72, having closed up 0.5% at 10,238.94 on Thursday after better-than-expected GDP data.
In equity markets, miners slumped as copper prices fell on reports that Chinese regulators have ordered exchanges to remove servers operated by high frequency traders from their data centres. Rio Tinto, Antofagasta, Anglo American and Glencore all lost ground.
On the upside, InterContinental Hotels was the standout gainer on the FTSE 100 after an initiation at 'outperform' by CICC.
Defence firms BAE Systems, Babcock and Rolls-Royce rallied as Nato personnel from a number of European countries landed in Greenland for an exercise after Trump restated his desire to own the island.
Neil Wilson, UK investor strategist at Saxo Markets, said it was "hardly a show of force, but a reminder of what's at stake here".
The gains also came amid news the UK will open a business centre in Kyiv this year to help defence start-ups send more military hardware into Ukraine.
Animal genetics specialist Genus surged to the top of the FTSE 250 as it lifted guidance on the back of robust trading.
The company said it had performed "strongly" in the six months to 31 December, and now expects adjusted pre-tax profits to come in around £50m in actual currency, ahead of internal forecasts. Including a milestone payment from Beijing Capital Agribusiness (BCA), interim profits are expected to be £55.6m.
Looking further ahead, the firm also flagged full-year profits were now tracking "moderately" above the top end of current market expectations.
Close Brothers shot up after RBC Capital Markets upgraded the stock to 'outperform' from 'sector perform' and hiked the price target to 625p from 475p. "We think the bank has more fat that it can trim on costs, which is not reflected in consensus," RBC said.
"It's tight, but we think that CBG's CET1 ratio can absorb a full top-up for motor finance, incremental restructuring and mid-to-high single digit loan growth."
Impax Environmental Markets gained after saying it planned to offer activist investor Saba a cash exit via a tender offer for up to 100% of its stake at close to net asset value while giving investors who want to remain the ability to do so.
Ninety One rose after it said assets under management increased to £159.8bn in the third quarter, from £152.1bn at the end of September.
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 10,219.72 -0.19%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 23,314.74 0.15%
techMARK (TASX) 5,912.46 0.63%
FTSE 100 - Risers
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 139.20p 1.94%
BAE Systems (BA.) 2,080.00p 1.91%
Babcock International Group (BAB) 1,494.00p 1.77%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 1,293.00p 1.57%
St James's Place (STJ) 1,522.00p 1.06%
Coca-Cola HBC AG (CDI) (CCH) 3,962.00p 1.02%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 366.60p 0.85%
National Grid (NG.) 1,188.50p 0.64%
3i Group (III) 3,359.00p 0.54%
Schroders (SDR) 460.80p 0.52%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Next (NXT) 13,585.00p -2.69%
Pearson (PSON) 953.00p -2.62%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 3,579.00p -2.35%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 6,324.00p -2.23%
Anglo American (AAL) 3,250.00p -2.11%
Glencore (GLEN) 483.25p -1.58%
GSK (GSK) 1,823.50p -1.33%
Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,271.50p -1.32%
Fresnillo (FRES) 3,710.00p -1.17%
Mondi (MNDI) 899.60p -1.08%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Genus (GNS) 2,895.00p 10.08%
Close Brothers Group (CBG) 542.00p 6.38%
Watches of Switzerland Group (WOSG) 498.20p 4.31%
Impax Environmental Markets (IEM) 424.00p 4.18%
Ninety One (N91) 235.60p 3.06%
Rathbones Group (RAT) 2,205.00p 2.32%
Ibstock (IBST) 142.60p 2.15%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 291.40p 2.00%
QinetiQ Group (QQ.) 513.50p 1.99%
Oxford Biomedica (OXB) 931.00p 1.97%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Wickes Group (WIX) 220.00p -2.65%
Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings (AML) 62.00p -2.05%
AO World (AO.) 106.20p -1.67%
WH Smith (SMWH) 628.00p -1.49%
B&M European Value Retail S.A. (DI) (BME) 168.35p -1.41%
Elementis (ELM) 171.60p -1.38%
IP Group (IPO) 57.50p -1.37%
Diversified Energy Company (DI) (DEC) 937.00p -1.37%
Travis Perkins (TPK) 669.00p -1.33%
Mony Group (MONY) 186.00p -1.33%
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