The FTSE 100 was higher on Friday after a choppy week for global stocks amid volatility in precious metals and concerns about the future of software companies.

London’s leading index was 0.1% higher at 10,328 at the time of writing.

Banks and miners were among the risers, while there was a divergence in the performance of heavily hit FTSE 100 software stocks.

The London Stock Exchange Group managed to attract buyers on Friday, gaining 1%, but RELX, Experian, and Sage resumed their declines. RELX was down 3% at the time of writing.

“It’s been a week from hell for tech stocks as AI spending plans caused upset across global markets and pushed investors to unplug hyperscalers from their portfolios,” says Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell.

Mould continued to highlight that AI considerations were also impacting the US tech giants, with Amazon shares sinking on the sheer scale of their AI capex.

“Amazon has followed its peers by turning up the dial to max on AI spending, leaving investors with their jaws to the floor. The hyperscalers are so confident that AI will change the world, they’re spending big bucks to have the foundations to serve what they predict will be sky-high demand. Investors are becoming increasingly dubious about the level of spending, fearing these companies are wasting their money,” Mould said.

US futures, however, were pointing to a higher open despite Amazon losing 8% as investors rotated into stocks that would benefit from Mag 7 AI spending, such as chipmakers and AI factories.

Fresnillo was the FTSE 100’s best performer as gold price choppiness continued, but within a tighter range than earlier in the week.

Joseph Dahrieh, Managing Director at Tickmill, explained, “Gold prices remained volatile, but traded broadly near the same levels seen during the last few trading sessions.”

“The market could stabilize gradually after its last selloff, but could continue to react to new data and geopolitical developments. The latter could fuel demand for safe-haven assets.”

Melten Energy was at the bottom of the leaderboard after warning that EBITDA would be 25% lower this year due to challenges at its renewable energy business. Melten shares were 15% lower at the time of writing.

Richard Edwards has a 6.5% stake in Ethernity Networks (LON: ENET). The share price is 24.4% higher at 0.0051p, but still lower on the week after it raised £367,500 at 0.004p/share.

Sports and leisure products supplier Tandem (LON: TND) improved revenues by 6% to £26.2m in 2025 despite weak consumer confidence. Bicycles and home and garden sectors grew fastest, offsetting the drop in toys, sports and leisure. Efficiency improvements mean that pre-tax profit should be slightly ahead of expectations of £500,000 – Cavendish forecasts £600,00. Management hopes to maintain the rate of growth in revenues this year. The results will be published on 23 March. The share price increased 8.82% to 185p.

Chariot Oil and Gas (LON: CHAR) says 34% owned associate Etana Energy has signed a significant power purchase agreement with Sibanye-Stillwater, a multinational mining and metals processing group, in South Africa. This a ten-year agreement to supply 220MW of renewable energy each year, starting in 2027. The share price rose 3.32% to 1.524p.

FALLERS

Jangada Mines (LON: JAN) says trenching at the Paranita gold project returned gold grades of up to 4.3g/t and confirmed a strike length of 800 metres. Further results are expected this month, and these should contribute to expanding the existing JORC resource. The share price  declined 7.58% to 1.525p.

Huddled Group (LON: HUD) has raised up to £730,000 from a share subscription at 1.75p/share and secured a debt facility of up to £600,000. There is also a retail offer of up to £100,000. The cash will fund additional stock for the retailer. New marketing initiatives are proving successful. The share price fell 5.26% to 1.8p.

Karl-Erik von Bahr has increased his stake in Firering Strategic Minerals (LON: FRG) from 3.14% to 4.1%. The share price dipped 4.06% to 1.3p.

Inspecs (LON: SPEC) says that the votes received for the scheme of arrangement for the 84p/share offer by a bid vehicle established by Luke Johnson and Ian Livingsgtone would not be enough for it to go through. The general meeting has been delayed from 9 February to 23 February. The share price is down 0.7% to 68p, having been as low as 61p earlier in the morning.

Talks to create the world’s largest mining company have fallen apart after Rio Tinto and Glencore couldn’t reach an agreement on valuation.

Glencore wrote in a statement yesterday: “We concluded that the proposed acquisition on these terms is not in the best interests of Glencore shareholders.

“It does not reflect our view on long term, through the cycle relative value, including not adequately valuing our copper business, and its leading growth pipeline, and apportioning material synergy value potential.”

Glencore added that: “Glencore’s standalone investment case is strong.”

Glencore and Rio Tinto have been here before, and it’s likely this won’t be the last we hear of merger plans. The mining sector is going through a wave of M&A activity, and the temptation of creating a mining powerhouse rivalled by no other may be too much for executives to ignore once the dust settles.

“Rio Tinto’s courtship of Glencore is over after Rio declined to request an extension or make a formal play for some or all of Glencore’s assets in the time allotted by the UK takeover code,” said Derren Nathan, head of equity research, Hargreaves Lansdown.

“A diverse set of mining properties and significant synergies made for an attractive combination on paper, but as with all relationships, there’s no set formula for chemistry, and the gaps between the two parties have been too big to reconcile.

“Just how Glencore’s coal and trading arms fit in with Rio’s business model, and push for improved sustainability credentials, were amongst the issues to address, but the more fundamental questions of valuation and who holds the remote control have been the main points of disagreement.”

News that talks ended broke yesterday, sending Glencore shares sharply lower just before the close. Glencore shares were lower again on Friday.

The FTSE 100 recovered losses on Thursday as the Bank of England kept rates on hold but signalled the next interest rate cut could be just around the corner.

London’s leading index was trading at 10,395, down 6 points, shortly after the Bank of England rate decision was released.

The Bank of England was widely expected to hold rates at 3.75% and wait for a clearer picture of inflation before moving to cut rates again. What wasn’t expected was the tight 5-4 split in favour of holding rates, which suggests the bank could cut interest rates at its next meeting.

Interestingly, Governor Bailey voted for a hold, and he could be the one who makes the difference next time around.

“So Governor Bailey is set to remain the swing vote in determining the path of policy,” said Luke Bartholomew, Deputy Chief Economist, at Abderdeen.

“As long as inflation moderates further over coming months, we continue to expect he will swing behind further cuts in the not too distant future. A cut at the next Bank meeting in March is most certainly on the table. And even if it takes a bit longer for the next cut to come through, we still think there is a strong case for rates to eventually fall to 3% later this year.”

In an immediate reaction, the FTSE 100 surged around 35 points, and GBP/USD lost 50 pips in seconds.

AI adopters rally

After several shockingly bad sessions from AI adopters Experian, RELX, and the London Stock Exchange Group, bargain hunters began to step in and pick up shares of the companies that were highly regarded by investors not that long ago. 

The London Stock Exchange Group was the FTSE 100’s top riser, adding 7% while RELX rose 3.3%.

Vodafone was the FTSE 100’s top faller after the telecoms group released a mixed trading update. Shares were down 7% at the time of writing.

“Recent news had given investors hope the problems in Vodafone’s largest market – Germany – were behind it. However, its third-quarter update offered a serving of schadenfreude for its detractors as German growth slipped to a trickle,” said Dan Coatsworth, head of markets at AJ Bell.

“This overshadowed a more robust performance elsewhere and raised questions about whether the regulatory-driven issues in the German market were truly behind the company. If November’s first dividend hike in seven years gave a signal that Vodafone’s recovery, following years of stagnation, was finally in motion that signal feels patchier today.

“Vodafone may still be on track to deliver full-year profit and cash at the upper end of guidance, and the integration of Three UK may be progressing as planned but after an extended period of regular disappointments, shareholders can be forgiven for being cynical.”

Housebuilders had been notably weaker going into the rates decision, but receiveda minor reprieve from the tight interest rate decision. Persimmon was down 2.7% and Barratts lost 3%.

Today feels like the first time in a couple of weeks preciosu metals weren’t dominating headlines and miner Fresnillo shares eased 2% lower.

Late yesterday, recruitment software provider Dillistone Group (LON: DSG) announced a £1.5m fundraising at 10p/share. Management believes that the company has to become larger to take advantage of the AIM quotation. P&R Investment Management has taken a strategic stake of 26.8% via its fund. They are appointing Matthias Riechert and Aakash Vanchi Nath to represent them on the board. The share price rebounded 35.3% to 11.5p.

Automotive interior components supplier CT Automotive (LON: CTA) expects to report adjusted pre-tax profit of at least $10m for 2025. This was after product launch-related costs of $400,000. Net debt was $7.7m at the end of 2025. Contracts have been won that will build revenues over the next few years. This year’s revenues will not get much of that benefit until later in the year and modest growth is expected. The share price gained 21.7% to 28p.

Video games developer tinyBuild (LON: TBLD) beat expectations for revenues profit and cash in 2025. Revenues of $32.5m are expected, while the loss should be cut from $20.9m to $1.1m. The loss should fall further this year. The share price rose 10% to 8.25p.

Cornish Metals (LON: TIN) has received a non-binding Letter of Interest from the Export-Import Bank of the United States for the financing of the development of the South Crofty tin mine in Cornwall. SP Angel has published research on Cornish Metals that value the company at 306p/share. The share price improved 6.2% to 137p.

FALLERS

Tungsten West (LON: TUN) has taken advantage of positive news about the Hemerdon tungsten and tin mine earlier this week to raise up to £43m at 18p/share, including a retail offer of up to £3m. The cash will finance the feasibility study and pay back the bridge facility. It will help to accelerate the move towards production in the third quarter. The NPV7.5% for Hemerdon has increased from $190m to $1.7bn. Debt financing discussions are continuing with multiple lenders. The share price declined 9.7% to 27p.

MediaZest (LON: MDZ) has raised £215,000 at 0.06p/share and this will help to finance working capital to finance new client wins. Dr Graham Cooley has taken a 8.11% stake via the placing. The share price slipped 8.57% to 0.08p.

Financial market data software provider Arcontech (LON: ARC) reported a 5% dip in revenues to £1.4m because of a loss of a contract and a decline in operating profit from £400,000 to £300,000. Reduced working capital helped net cash increase to £7.8m. Cavendish expects revenues to fall 13% and pre-tax profit to decline 30% to £700,000. The share price fell 8.86% to 27.25p.

Vianet (LON: VNET) has won a new contract from a US restaurant chain, but this was overshadowed by tough trading in the second half. Cavendish forecasts a flat full year pre-tax profit of £1.3m. The new contract is a multi-year one for the Beverage Metrics inventory platform and it will be rolled out by June. The share price dipped 9.03% to 65.5p.

Ex-dividends

Victorian Plumbing Group (LON: VIC) is paying a final dividend of 1.45p/share and the share price edged down 0.2p to 83p.

The latest breakdown of the most popular stocks on Robinhood UK reveals an interesting shift towards robotics and automation, with a drone and wireless technology group taking the top spot, while familiar names Tesla and Nvidia remain in the top ten.

10 most popular stocks in January 2026 on Robinhood UK

1. Ondas (ONDS)
2. Plug Power (PLUG)
3. MARA (MARA)
4. NVIDIA (NVDA)
5. Tesla (TSLA)
6. IREN (IREN)
7. Applied Digital (APLD)
8. Red Cat (RCAT)
9. Robinhood (HOOD)
10. Strategy (MSTR)

“Drone stocks leapt onto the list of the most popular buys on Robinhood UK in January, as the AI infrastructure theme broadened out and interest in hydrogen fuel systems jumped too,” said Dan Lane, Investment Content Lead at Robinhood UK.

“Move over MARA. The crypto miner turned AI infrastructure firm was leapfrogged on the list of the most popular buys on Robinhood UK in January by two newcomers, Ondas and Plug Power. Ondas is one of two drone manufacturers to rise up the ranks after the US announced its plans to ban the sale of drones made outside the country. The other maker to appear on January’s list, Red Cat, produces drones for the US military – despite the attention, though, both manufacturers are yet to turn a profit.

“A mixed month for hydrogen power specialist, Plug Power, included a share price pop on the back of an announcement that Walmart would cancel some of its existing warrants (which would have diluted PLUG shares). The flipside came later in the month, as the company announced its own proposal to double its share count – effectively putting dilution back on the table.”