Dec 3 (Reuters) – The UK’s FTSE 100 ended slightly lower on Wednesday, weighed down by losses in financials stocks, while mining and energy shares advanced ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s decision on interest rates next week.
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Industrial metal miners (.FTNMX551030) rose 3.3% as copper prices hit a record high. Glencore (GLEN.L) rose 6.3%, hitting an over 10-month high after the miner said it aims to reach 1.6 million metric tons of copper production by 2035.
Aerospace and defence (.FTNMX502010) gained 1.4% after Russia said talks with U.S. officials in Moscow failed to reach a compromise on a potential Ukraine peace deal. Rolls-Royce (RR.L) added 1.6% while Babcock International (BAB.L) rose 1.5%.
Energy stocks (.FTNMX601010) advanced 0.7%, tracking a rise in oil prices. BP (BP.L) gained 1.3%.
On the flip side, heavyweight bank shares (.FTNMX301010) dropped 1.7%.
Britain’s financial regulator said it will lift the pause on handling motor finance complaints on May 31, 2026, two months earlier than initially proposed, as it finalises a compensation scheme for those hit by a mis-selling scandal.
The scandal, which dates back to 2007, involves lenders such as Lloyds (LLOY.L), Close Brothers (CBRO.L) and Barclays (BARC.L), which are accused of using excessively high interest rates in car-finance arrangements and including extra bonus payments.
Lloyd’s Banking (LLOY.L) lost 1.4% while Close Brothers (CBRO.L) and Barclays (BARC.L) declined about 0.7% each.
HSBC Holdings (HSBA.L), which named interim chair Brendan Nelson as permanent CEO in a surprise move, fell 1.6%.
A survey showed growth among Britain’s services firms declined last month and employment contracted the most since February in the run-up to the government’s budget.
The broader pharma sector (.FTNMX201030) lost 0.5%. Consumer staples stocks such as Marks & Spencer (MKS.L) and British American Tobacco (BATS.L) also declined.
Among individual stocks, Sainsbury (SBRY.L) fell 4.2% after a term sheet showed that Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund plans to reduce its stake in the supermarket chain.
London Stock Exchange group (LSEG.L) gained 1.4% after a deal with OpenAI to integrate its financial data and analytics into ChatGPT.
Reporting by Utkarsh Tushar Hathi in Bengaluru; editing by Sahal Muhammed and Mark Heinrich
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