FTSE 100 Live: Pound at 2021 high as Trump shrugs at dollar woes

Good morning and welcome back to the City AM liveblog.

Has the mining sector’s rally finally run out of steam?

It appeared so on Tuesday, where City banks helped lift the FTSE 100 out of the red as miners across the board sank despite the ever-increasing price of precious metals.

Fresnillo – the best performing blue-chip of 2025 – tumbled nearly seven per cent, with Endeavour following down nearly five per cent.

It even came as gold’s magnificent rally stormed onwards, breaking through the $5,100 mark for the first time. Silver was up near eight per cent on Tuesday morning, also at an all-time high. The metals gave up some gains but still held well-above the $5,000 milestone when markets closed.

But it wasn’t enough to steer investors into the miners. Instead, banks took centre stage in a blue-chip rally that took place ahead of the sector’s full-year earnings report.

Leading the pack was HSBC, which as part of the gains, managed to take Astrazeneca’s crown to become the most valuable firm on the market as it net a price tag of over $300bn.

“Were it not for HSBC’s gains today the index would be struggling to make any headway at all, despite yet more gains for gold and silver,” Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG, told City AM.

Meanwhile, its banking peers were enjoying the pre-earnings rally with Natwest advancing nearly three per cent to a post-financial crisis high of 668.40p. Lloyds was up just under two per cent to 104.80p and Barclays 1.7 per cent to 488.80p.

Will miners be back in favour this morning or is it another trading session all about the City’s financial giants?

We’ll be bringing you the latest as we get it.

Here’s a few of our top stories from yesterday:

• Nearly 600 jobs to go as Revolution Bars rescue deal shuts over 20 sites
• £300m tax relief for pubs ‘a sticking plaster’
• Loveholidays eyes £1bn London IPO as soon as March
• Andy Street: Conservatives can beat Reform with centre-right policies
• Food prices to jump despite easing inflation predictions