FTSE 100 seals record high after shaking off investor nerves
The FTSE 100 finally sealed a new record closing high on Thursday after falling a whisker short the previous two trading sessions.
The UK’s flagship index rose 0.2 per cent to – besting March’s record of 8,871.31. The index also beat its previous intraday high after hitting 8,892.36 in afternoon trading.
Endeavour mining topped the risers at near four per cent with tech giant BT jumping nearly three per cent amid rumours it was mulling a takeover move for rival Talktalk.
Equipment maker Halma, which posted record full-year revenue, climbed over two percent. Tesco was also up nealry two per cent after a positive trading update.
Of the fallers, retailer JD Sports topped the list after a near four per cent slump. Low-cost airline group Easyjet was not far behind at 3.6 per cent.
Dan Coatsworth, investment analyst at AJ Bell, said: “After a few false dawns, the FTSE 100 has finally hit a new record closing high.
“The UK stock market has been a star performer this year, delivering more than three times the return as the S&P 500 in the US. It’s been ages since the UK trumped the US on the stock market, and 2025 has been the breakthrough year”
This came as new data revealed UK investor confidence dipped one per cent from May to June, which followed on from a 70 per cent jump in May after President Donald Trump rolled back his tariffs.
A similar picture was revealed across Europe, where investor confidence fell four per cent, Hargreaves Lansdown’s Investor Confidence Index showed.
Trump uncertainty clouds markets
Kate Marshall, lead investment analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “June has seen a more mixed picture so far.
“This isn’t a huge surprise given the ongoing uncertainty around tariffs from the Trump administration and the potential impact on businesses, and economies, across the globe”.
But the US saw a significant jump of 22 per cent, which follows Trump beginning to open his deal book to trading partners.
The UK and US penned a trade deal in early May, which Prime Minister Keir Starmer said would help the two nations’ economies “open up” to each other.
But official data showed exports from the UK to the US suffered their largest monthly decrease since records began in April, ahead of the deal.
Marshall said: “It’s a stark difference from last month – while confidence in the North American market increased in May, the magnitude of the rise was much smaller than other markets.”
Trump set July 8 as the deadline for trade talks before higher tariffs are set to kick in.
The looming deadline has sent markets back into a period of anxiety after Trump said an extension would not be a “necessity”.
The President said: “At a certain point, we’re just going to send letters out… saying, ‘This is the deal. You can take it, or you can leave it.”
This led to European markets falling into a sea of red on Thursday.
Germany’s Dax was down 0.7 per cent and the Cac 40 in Paris 0.2 per cent during early trading. Amsterdam’s AEX tumbled 0.53 per cent.