St James’s Place and Next help FTSE 100 to another all-time high
The FTSE 100 has hit another all-time high this morning, with the index up five per cent since the start of 2025.
London’s main index rose 0.46 per cent this morning before dropping back slightly, while the more domestically focused FTSE 250 jumped 0.53 per cent.
“Given the volatility this week on Wall Street as investors fret about the trajectory of AI spend, and the impact of Trump’s tariff plans, there’s been a flight to safer havens, offering more reliable returns, where stocks have been undervalued compared to their US peers,” explained Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown.
Earlier this month, the FTSE 100 hit its first all-time high since last spring, with investors betting that the Bank of England would cut interest rates more aggressively than expected.
The index was also boosted by a falling pound and commodity boom, which sent miners and oil firms soaring.
While the pound has recovered from the $1.22 low it hit earlier in the month, it is still down seven per cent against the dollar over the last four months, currently sitting at $1.24.
“The FTSE 100 marked new record highs on Friday morning, taking its cues from solid trading on Wall Street as the recovery from Monday’s DeepSeek related volatility continued,” says Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell.
“Defence and energy names were among those giving the UK’s flagship index an end-of-week boost.”
Smiths break up boost
However, the most significant contributor to the FTSE 100 today has been Smiths Group, with its stock price rising more than 11 per cent on news it was pursuing a break up.
The global engineering firm said it would be selling Smiths Interconnect and separate Smiths Detection via a demerger or sale and committing to a £500m share buyback programme.
Other top performers today included Next (up two per cent), BAE Systems (up 1.3 per cent) and St James’s Place (up 1.2 per cent).
“Investors will be relieved that the markets have successfully negotiated a week full of major events including a Federal Reserve interest rate meeting and the start of the Magnificent Seven earnings season,” added Mould.
“Later on, there’s one more hurdle to get over this week as core PCE inflation data is released in the US. This metric is a big factor in informing the decision making of the Fed so a surprise in either direction could make markets increasingly febrile again.”