FTSE 100 Up Sharply On Fairly Widespread Buying

The UK market’s equity index FTSE 100 moved up sharply Wednesday morning, lifted by strong gains in mining and energy stocks. Data showing notable jump in PMI readings contributed significantly to the positive mood in the market.

Investors looked ahead to the Bank of England’s monetary policy announcement, due on Thursday. The BoE is widely expected to hold rates. The focus will be on the central bank’s views on growth, and clues about future policy moves.

The FTSE 100 was up 144.71 points or 1.4% at 10,459.30 a litte before noon.

Energy stocks BP and Shell gained 2.5% and 2%, respectively. Miners Rio Tinto, Glencore, Endeavour Mining, Anglo American Plc., and Fresnillo pared early gains, but were up 0.4%-2% a little before noon.

Beazley soared 8.7% after Zurich Insurance Group said it has agreed in principle on the key financial terms of a possible all-cash offer to acquire Beazley plc, valuing the UK specialty insurer at up to 1,335 pence per share, or about 8.0 billion pounds.

DCC surged 8.5%, while Croda International and Berkeley Group Holdings gained 4.8% and 4.2%, respectively.

GSK climbed 5.2% on reporting better-than-expected profit in the fourth quarter. Profit attributable to shareholders increased to 636 million pounds or 15.8 pence per share from 414 million pounds or 10.1 pence per share a year ago.

Looking ahead for fiscal 2026, GSK projects growth in core earnings per share as well as core operating profit between 7% and 9 percent, and turnover between 3% and 5 percent, all at constant exchange rates.

BT Group, Hiscox, Entain, Land Securities, Vodafone Group, Tesco, Bunzl, Kingfisher, Marks & Spencer and SSE surged 3%-4%.

JD Sports Fashion, Sainsbury (J), 3i Group, British Land, Howeden Joinery, Whitbread, Intercontinental Hotels Group, Mondi, Hikma Pharmaceuticals, Diageo and Barratt Redrow also moved up sharply.

Data from S&P Global showed the S&P Global Composite PMI rose to 53.7 in January of 2026 from 51.4 in the previous month, revised slightly downward from the preliminary estimate of 53.9 but still sharply above the initial market expectations of 51.5.

The Services sector PMI came in at 54.0 in January, compared to 51.4 in December, while the manufacturing sector PMI score to a 17-month high of 51.8, rising from 50.6.