The FTSE 100 was range-bound on Monday as investors navigated geopolitical risks and rising worries about another US government shutdown.

London’s leading index was trading three points higher at 10,146 at the time of writing after trading in a range between 10,170 and 10,127 in early trade.

The FTSE 100’s weighting towards precious metals and defensive sectors helped it outperform European indices as the gold price broke to fresh record highs above $5,000 per oz buoyed by fresh concerns about a US government shutdown.

“There may not be any big geopolitical news to rival last week’s Greenland drama, but internal tensions in the US are helping to keep precious metals prices elevated,” said AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould.

“Gold has moved through $5,000 for the first time – showing investors are still seeking out the traditional haven for some insurance against what remains a febrile backdrop.

“In less than 18 months bullion has more than doubled in value – buoyed by central bank demand, global turmoil, dollar weakness, and the diminished appeal of other popular defensive assets.”

Silver was not left behind by the precious metals rally and smashed through $100 for the first time to trade at $108 at the time of writing.

Fresnillo shares were unsurprisingly at the top of the FTSE 100 leaderboard at the time of writing, with gains of 3%.

Fresnillo shares have doubled since the middle of November, trading just shy of 4,400p at the time of writing. The silver miner started 2024 priced at around 620p. It’s also the second-best performer year to date in 2026, with gains of 30%.

Gold miner Endeavour Mining was 2.9% higher, while diversified miners Antofagasta and Anglo American joined the rally with gains in excess of 2%.

Despite strength in miners, there was plenty of weakness elsewhere that prevented the index from moving materially higher.

3i Group lost around 4% after analysts at RBS cut their rating to underweight, while Barclays reduced its price target.

Autotrader’s downtrend continued with the share price breaking down by over 3% to 550p – the lowest level since 2023.

Experian and Reckitt Beckiser where among other names that saw selling pick up on Monday after a poor week last week.

Harena Rare Earths shares jumped on Monday after announcing a pre-feasibility study (PFS) for its Ampasindava rare earth project in Madagascar, confirming strong technical and economic viability for the ionic clay deposit.

Harena Rare Earths, formerly known as Citius Resources, released the PFS after securing 100% ownership of the project last year.

The PFS outlines a 20-year heap leach operation producing approximately 71,000 tonnes of total rare earth oxide, with annual production of 4,000 tonnes TREO, including 1,700 tonnes of critical magnetic rare earth oxides (NdPr + DyTb).

The study, compiled with support from global engineering group SGS, estimates pre-production capital costs of $142 million, including a 25% allowance for EPCM and funding costs. The project is designed for a plant throughput of 5 million tonnes per annum at an average grade of 1,500 ppm TREO.

Using long-term analyst pricing, the project demonstrates robust economics with a pre-tax NPV10 of $343.7 million and an internal rate of return (IRR) of 34%.

Post-tax NPV10 stands at $249.6 million with a 30% IRR and four-year payback period. Life-of-mine free cashflow is projected at $1.0 billion post-tax.

These are all very attractive numbers, and Harena shares reacted accordingly, rising 20% on Monday.

Under current consensus pricing scenarios, the financial metrics improve significantly, with pre-tax NPV10 reaching $616.1 million and undiscounted life-of-mine free cashflow of $2.6 billion post-tax.

“The completion of the PFS represents a significant step forward for Harena and the Ampasindava Project. With significant previous investment in resource development, process testwork and environmental programs, we have an excellent understanding of the Ampasindava Project where we can now further optimise the asset as we move into the final piloting and studies phase,” said Allan Mulligan, Executive Technical Director of Haren.

“The Ampasindava Project hosts a world-class scale ionic absorption rare earths mineralisation, particularly amenable to low cost and high yield recoveries. The sustainable and rapid remediation heap leach extraction model will serve to enhance the local, regional and national economy with no lasting impacts on the environment.

“Our confidence in the results of the PFS and the underlying PFS process more broadly is based on the enormous previous works and current understanding of the orebody, and the inclusion of the Proof-of-Concept plant in 2026 will allow a smooth and organised mobilisation into construction with reduced start up risk.”

Grainger, the UK’s largest listed residential landlord, has announced that its joint venture with Places for London has agreed to forward fund and acquire a 195-home build-to-rent development in West London.

Connected Living London (CLL), the partnership between Grainger and Places for London, the property arm of Transport for London, will acquire the scheme at Chiswick Reach on Bollo Lane. The development will be built by Barratt Redrow, marking Grainger’s first build-to-rent collaboration with a major UK housebuilder.

The £68.4 million purchase price will be split 51:49 between Grainger and Places for London in line with the CLL structure. The development is expected to generate returns within Grainger’s target range for London schemes, with the company also receiving asset management fees.

The scheme has secured detailed planning consent and Gateway 2 approval from the Building Safety Regulator. It will deliver 195 new build-to-rent homes, including 95 discounted market rent properties, alongside 4,299 sq ft of commercial space and 5,499 sq ft of internal amenity facilities for residents, featuring co-working space and a gym.

“We are pleased to announce this strategic milestone in our partnership with Places for London, a new scheme in our JV’s pipeline with construction commencing imminently, delivering 195 high quality rental homes in a well-connected West London location,” said Helen Gordon, Chief Executive of Grainger.

“Working alongside Barratt Redrow on this project represents an exciting development in our approach to delivery partners, opening potential new avenues for collaboration with major housebuilders as we continue to expand our build-to-rent portfolio across the UK.”

Located on former railway land, Chiswick Reach sits an eight-minute walk from both Chiswick Park station on the District Line and South Acton Overground station

S4 Capital shares jumped on Monday after reporting fourth-quarter trading ahead of its revised guidance, with the advertising group expecting to exceed the current market consensus for both net revenue and operational EBITDA for the full year.

The company anticipates full-year net revenue of approximately £664 million, representing a like-for-like decline of around 8.5%.

However, the operational EBITDA margin is expected to reach circa 12%, delivering operational EBITDA of roughly £75 million, surpassing the consensus forecast. Investors cheered the update, with shares jumping by more than 20% amid a challenging backdrop for advertising groups.

The introduction of AI is shaking up the industry, and shareholders will be pleased to see S4 successfully navigating the new environment.

The group said it has achieved a substantial improvement in its financial position and Net debt is projected to come in significantly below the current consensus of £133 million and beneath the previously indicated range of £100-140 million.

Consequently, the net debt to operational EBITDA ratio at year-end 2025 is expected to be approximately 1.1x, well below both the current consensus of 1.8x and the company’s target of 1.5x.

“Good to see both delivery beyond revised net revenue and operational EBITDA guidance and the significant improvement in liquidity,” said Sir Martin Sorrell, Executive Chairman of S4 Capital.

“However, there is still much more to be done around net revenue and margin growth in 2026 and beyond which we will cover with the 2025 results presentation in March. The recommended 1p final dividend is an indication of the Board’s confidence in continued improvement. In an increasingly volatile world, clients continue to carefully assess where they should expand geographically and how they can apply new technologies such as AI, Blockchain and Quantum to increasing efficiency.”

Trellus Health (LON: TRLS), which has developed digital technology to manage chronic conditions, has gained shareholder approval to issue up to £5m of secured convertible loan notes to an institutional shareholder. This will be drawn down in multiple tranches that will come with warrants. Average monthly cash burn has been reduced to $400,000. The share price rebounded 163% to 1.05p.

Goldstone Resources (LON: GRL) is raising £2m at 1p/share, which was more than double the share price ahead of the announcement. The cash will fund exploration at the Homase mine in Ghana to expand the JORC resource and to evaluate other gold projects, including one in Sierra Leone. Asian Investment Management is converting £1.45m of interest on its gold loan to shares at a conversion price base on a gold price of $4,250/ounce, taking its shareholding to 29.9%. This leaves 250 ounces of interest and the principal gold loan of 1,871.31 ounces. Directors are also taking 50% of fees owed in shares at 1p/share. The share price jumped 113% to 0.85p.

Water mediation services provider MYCELX Technologies (LON: MYX) grew 2025 revenues by 1405 to $11.7m and this, along with cost controls, has enabled the company to achieve an expected profit of around $360,000. A loss was previously forecast. The share price rose 43.9% to 41p.

Oil and gas company Block Energy (LON: BLOE) has completed the farm-out of licence XIQ (Project IV) following approval from the government of Georgia. Block Energy is fully carried through the staged work programme which could cost $95m. Aspect Georgia will earn up to 75% with an option to increase this to 92.5%. The share price is 38.6% higher at 0.97p.

FALLERS

Genetics based testing company GENinCode (LON: GENI) has raised £3.9m via a placing and subscription at 1p/share – that is more than the £3.5m minimum sought. Up to £500,000 more could be raised by a retail offer, which closes on 26 January. The company has been working with the FDA to gain 510k approval for the CARDIO inCode-Score test. Highlighted deficiencies are being attended to, including a greater emphasis on African American community data and further clinical validation. The cash will fund this and expansion in the UK and EU. The share price decreased 42.1% to 1.1p.

MobilityOne (LON: MBO) has formed a mobile money transfer collaboration in Bangladesh with bKash. It will share fees on remittance transactions by bKash account holders. There will be a modest contribution this year. The share price slipped 29% to 5.5p.

More good news for Oracle Power (LON: ORCP) from drilling at the Kalgoorlie gold project in Australia. It has intersected shallow gold mineralisation at the Northern Zone Intrusive Hosted gold project. The best result is 8 metres at 5.81g/t gold. There are a further 16 drillholes due to report results in two batches. It is possible that there is a 600 metre wide zone of shallow oxide mineralisation overlapping the Northern Zone porphyry system. The share price declined 23.3% to 0.0575p.

Trading in Landore Resources (LON: LND) shares recommenced after it published an updated mineral resource estimate for the BAM gold project in Ontario. It includes estimates for the B-47 nickel copper cobalt PGE deposit and VW nickel copper cobalt deposit at the Junior Lake nickel deposit. BAM has indicated gold of 622,300 ounces with 33,700 ounces inferred. B47 has indicated resources of 3,428 tonnes at 0.6% nickel, 0.41% copper, 0.05% cobalt, 0.13g/t platinum, 0.48g/t Pg and 0.03%g/t gold. VW has indicated resources of 3,428 tonnes at 0.4% nickel, 0.05% copper, 0.02% cobalt, 0.03g/t platinum, 0.04g/t Pg and 0.01%g/t gold. Strategic options are being considered for Junior Lake. There are potential changes at subsidiary Landore Resources Canada Inc. The share price fell 22.2% to 2.8p.