(Alliance News) – Stock prices in London were higher at midday on Wednesday, despite ongoing jitters over the impact of the latest artificial intelligence developments, as Beazley, DCC and GSK helped the FTSE 100 reach a fresh record.
The FTSE 100 index was up 144.59 points, 1.4%, at 10,459.18. The FTSE 250 was up 141.58 points, 0.6%, at 23,431.95, and the AIM all-share was up 3.50 points, 0.4%, at 821.83.
A little earlier on Wednesday, the FTSE 100 reached a new intraday record of 10,459.82 points.
The Cboe UK 100 was up 1.2% at 1,042.82, the Cboe UK 250 was 0.9% higher at 20,803.96, and the Cboe small companies was up 0.2% at 18,713.01.
In European equities on Wednesday, the CAC 40 in Paris was up 1.3%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt was down 0.2%.
Sterling was at USD1.3707 at midday on Wednesday, up from USD1.3695 at the London equities close on Tuesday. The euro was lower at USD1.1811 from USD1.1818. Against the yen, the dollar was higher at JPY156.78 versus JPY155.73.
“The dust settled on Wednesday after a dramatic session for tech-related stocks amid new AI disruption,” said AJ Bell analyst Dan Coatsworth.
“A lot of the focus since the AI theme emerged has been on the winners and while there has been attention on potential losers from the proliferation of artificial intelligence, this part of the story has mainly stayed in the background. That changed on Tuesday when a raft of data and software businesses endured double-digit share price losses on the launch of a new suite of tools from AI outfit Anthropic for the legal sector.”
At midday on the FTSE 100, Relx shares were 2.8% lower, London Stock Exchange Group lost 2.7% and Sage Group fell 2.5%.
On the FTSE 250, Trustpilot was down the most as its shares fell 8.6%.
Stocks in New York were called to open higher on Wednesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was called up 0.3%, the S&P 500 index 0.2% higher, and the Nasdaq Composite up 0.1%.
The yield on the US 10-year Treasury was quoted at 4.28% at midday on Wednesday, slightly narrowed from 4.29% at Tuesday’s close. The yield on the US 30-year Treasury slimmed to 4.90% from 4.92%.
In London, Beazley led the way on the FTSE 100 and climbed 8.6% after it said it has agreed to a potential takeover offer from Zurich Insurance that values the UK company at approximately GBP8.0 billion.
The London-based insurer released a joint statement with its larger Swiss peer, which noted that the Beazley board is “minded to accept” Zurich’s offer were it to be made firm.
Zurich has offered Beazley shareholders 1,310 pence per share in cash before allowed dividends, which takes the total value per share up to 1,335p. If Beazley declares and pays its permitted dividend in full, the offer would amount to GBP8.0 billion, which is 63% higher than Beazley’s market capitalisation before the takeover process began in January, Zurich noted.
DCC shares were also 8.6% higher as it forecast good operating profit growth in its current financial year, driven by “significant strategic progress and ongoing development activity.”
The Dublin-based provider of sales, marketing and distribution services to the energy sector said adjusted operating profit, on a continuing basis, grew strongly in the quarter to December, compared with the prior year.
As a result, DCC continues to expect the financial year ending March will be a “year of good operating profit growth on a continuing basis, significant strategic progress and ongoing development activity.”
Shares in GSK climbed 5.9% after it backed guidance after fourth-quarter results beat expectations, driven by growth in its Specialty Medicines and Vaccines divisions and lower-than-expected expenses.
The London-based pharmaceuticals company reported pretax profit of GBP1.48 billion in the three months that ended December 31, up 15% from GBP1.29 billion a year prior and ahead of company compiled-consensus of GBP1.37 billion.
Core operating profit rose 14% to GBP1.63 billion from GBP1.43 billion, with core earnings per share up 9.9% to 25.5 pence from 23.2p, both ahead of consensus of GBP1.53 billion and 23.0p, respectively.
Delivering his first set of results, GSK Chief Executive Luke Miels hailed a “strong performance” in 2025, “driven mainly by Specialty Medicines, with double-digit sales growth in Respiratory, Immunology & Inflammation, Oncology and HIV.”
“We expect this positive momentum to continue in 2026, which will be a key year of execution and operational delivery with strong focus on commercial launches and accelerating R&D. We are well placed to move forward in this next phase for GSK – to deliver our outlooks – and to create new value for patients and shareholders.”
On the FTSE 250 index, Atalaya Mining shares were down 8.1%.
Urion Holdings, part of Trafigura Group, sold 14.0 million Atalaya Mining shares at 945 pence each, worth GBP132 million. The sale was via a placing by JP Morgan that was announced after the London market close on Tuesday.
The share sold represents an 8.5% stake in Atalaya Mining and Trafigura retains a 10.9% stake. Trafigura is a Singapore-based commodities supply chain firm.
Among small caps, shares in Gem Diamonds jumped 82%.
The Lesotho-focused diamond miner said all operational metrics for 2025 are within or ahead of its revised guidance.
It recovered 20,961 carats in the fourth quarter, resulting in a total of 90,354 carats for 2025, compared to 105,012 for 2024. It noted that after the end of the year, a 193 carat white type two diamond was recovered.
Gold was higher at USD5,047.40 an ounce at midday on Wednesday from USD4,971.16 late Tuesday.
Brent oil was trading higher at USD67.31 a barrel at noon on Wednesday from USD67.15 on Tuesday.
Still to come on Wednesday’s economic calendar is ADP payroll data and composite PMI in the US.
By Michael Hennessey, Alliance News reporter
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