The FTSE 100 was marginally weaker on Wednesday as Sainsbury’s, banks, and other retailers weighed on the index.

London’s leading index had started the session broadly flat, but minor gains gave way to minor losses, and the FTSE 100 was down 0.2% at the time of writing.

“Miners did their best to prop up the FTSE 100, but opposing forces from the banking, pharma and utility sectors were too great to keep the index in positive territory,” said Dan Coatsworth, head of markets at AJ Bell.

“Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was a notable mover, falling 1.3% as nearly all sectors apart from basic materials and industrials were in the red. China’s CSI 300 index was also weak, with both indices hit by disappointing services data.”

China-focused banks HSBC and Standard Chartered were among the top fallers as sentiment took a knock.

Investors may have been surprised to see miners such as Anglo American, Antofagasta, and Glencore among the top risers, given their dependence on Chinese demand. Antofagasta was the top riser after Jefferies analysts raised their price target to 3,500p.

Sainsbury’s was the FTSE 100’s top faller after Qatar sold a £270m stake in the business. Sainsbury’s shares fell 3.7% with Tesco and Marks and Spencer falling between 1% and 2% in sympathy.

“The stock has enjoyed a good run since April, thanks to business progress. A food-first strategy has reaped significant rewards and Sainsbury’s has managed to breathe new life into the business,” Coatsworth explained.

“QIA might take the view that now is a good time to cut its exposure as Sainsbury’s regaining its mojo is one thing, taking it to another level is more challenging.”

US rate cut

US stocks were also relatively subdued overnight, with the S&P 500 gaining just 0.2% despite a strong run-up in tech shares.

Support is creeping back into US stocks as traders eye a possible US rate cut. But this has yet to translate to any meaningful optimism in UK and European shares.

That said, ff hopes of a rate cut solidify in the coming sessions, it wouldn’t be a surpirse to see global stocks melt up into the announcement next week.

“Recent data continues to support the narrative of a soft landing in the US economy – a delicate balance between slowing growth alongside resilience in the US labour market,” explained Oliver Faizallah, Head of Fixed Income Research at Charles Stanley, part of Raymond James Wealth Management.

“This backdrop has given the US central bank the Federal Reserve room to ease policy, with markets now fully pricing in a 25bps rate cut at next week’s meeting, a sharp shift from just 30% odds a month ago. The move reflects both supportive economic indicators, dovish Fed commentary, and speculation around future leadership.”

Tekcapital portfolio company Guident has filed an updated S-1 form with the SEC, signalling preparations for its NASDAQ IPO are gathering pace.

The autonomous vehicle technology company filed its original S-1 confidentially towards the end of the summer, but was likely held up by the longest US government shutdown in history.

The SEC is reportedly facing a substantial backlog of filings, meaning a swathe of companies, including Guident, are waiting to progress with their listing plans.

Material details of the S-1 filed yesterday in the US were largely unchanged, with the indicative price range remaining at between $7.80 and $9.80.

While the delay will be frustrating for Tekcapital and Guident stakeholders, it may have been a blessing in disguise, as it means the firm has sidestepped market volatility during November.

Tekcapital holds around a 70% stake in Guident, which could be worth more than Tekcapital’s entire market cap when Guident lists.

The backlog at the SEC has created an opportunity for Guident to provide further details of commercial progress ahead of the IPO, such as the recent launch of a fresh MiCa autonomous shuttle deployment in Boca Raton.

“This launch marks a defining moment for Boca Raton and for the future of driverless mobility,” Harald Braun, Chairman and CEO of Guident at the time of the launch.

“The MiCa is managed by Guident’s RMCC platform, which bridges technology and human judgment, ensuring that every autonomous journey is monitored, secure, and safe.”

Beeks Financial Cloud Group has won two significant contracts worth a combined £3.4m, which will maintain the company’s sales momentum into the second half of its financial year.

The cloud computing and connectivity provider has signed a three-year Private Cloud contract with a major Canadian bank valued at $1.5m. It has also secured a £2m extension of its Proximity Cloud with a large FX broker. This takes the total value of that particular contract to £4m over five years.

Revenue from both agreements is expected to begin in the second half of FY26 and build on an encouraging start to the year.

“As described at the time of our Final Results, we have a wide range of opportunities progressing through our sales pipeline across the breadth of our product offering, demonstrating the growing appetite for our cloud computing and connectivity solutions across the global financial markets,” said Gordon McArthur, CEO at Beeks.

“With the proof of concept for our newest offering, Market Edge Intelligence, progressing to plan, opening up a significant additional market for the Group, and Exchange Cloud contracts with major exchanges approaching completion, we remain confident in continued momentum across our business.”

Beeks recently announced 26% revenue growth in the year to 30 June 2025.

The FTSE 100 was on the front foot on Tuesday as strong banking stress tests boosted UK-centric sectors, including banks, retailers and housebuilders.

As the final month of the year gets underway, the FTSE 100 seems content with bouncing around the 9,700 mark in early trade before the bulls took control and pushed the index 0.4% higher.

Banks were among the top risers after the sector passed the latest set of stress tests with flying colours. Barclays, Lloyds, and Natwest were all higher by more than 1% at the time of writing.

But there were also winners away from the banking sector. Persimmon rose 1% on hopes that banks may increase lending activity and spur additional housing activity, while similar sentiment around lending saw DIY retailer Kingfisher higher on the day.

“The UK’s seven biggest banks sailed through the latest stress test, reaffirming their resilience and earning a regulatory nod to ease capital buffers,” said Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst, Hargreaves Lansdown.

“Most banks already hold capital well above the minimum by choice, so any shift in strategy may take time – but in theory, it frees up extra capital for lending or capital returns.”

“However they use the new freedom, this is another clear signal that the UK banking sector is in robust health. This was largely expected, but the confirmation should still be taken well, especially after dodging tax hikes in last week’s Budget.”

Broker ratings also played a part in trading on Tuesday. Berkeley Group was unable to join the housebuilder rally after RBC downgraded its rating to underperform from outperform and cut its price target to 3,700p from 4,900p. Berkeley shares were down 1.6% at the time of writing.

Persimmon, coincidentally, was upgraded by RBC to outperform with a price target of 1,750p. Persimmon currently changes hands at 1,347p.

Polar Capital Technology Trust was 1.4% higher, with a 0.4% gain in NASDAQ futures pointing to a strong session ahead for US tech shares.

After a storming rally yesterday, gold miner Endevaour was the FTSE 100 top faller after the group set out a 5-year plan to boost production through exploration. However, this will come at a $100m cost, which investors don’t seem to be over the moon about.