The FTSE 100 has kicked off the new year on a positive note, though markets are still firmly in holiday mode.
Early trading saw the blue-chip index climb 73 points to just over 10004.00, setting a fresh all-time high. The London benchmark ended 2025 at 9,931.38 points, down 9.3 points on New Year’s Eve but up more than 1,600 points – a gain of 21.5% – over the year as a whole.
There has been little in the way of company news from FTSE constituents so far, though attention will turn later this morning to economic data, including manufacturing PMI surveys for the UK and other major economies.
Following a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump also said the US would back Israeli strikes on Iran should Tehran continue its ballistic missile and nuclear weapons programmes. Trump claimed Iran was “behaving badly” and seeking to restart its nuclear ambitions. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said the country was in an “all-out war” with the US, Israel and Europe.
In Asia, Hyldgaard noted that Chinese military drills around Taiwan earlier this week had little impact on Taiwanese markets, which “reacted very calmly” as the exercises appeared similar to previous manoeuvres. However, he added that the drills came just weeks after the US announced $11.1bn of arms sales to Taiwan.
For the first time, China also stated publicly that the drills were intended as a warning not only to “separatist forces” within Taiwan, but also to “external interference forces”.
