FTSE 100 movers: Miners, oil giants in the black

(Sharecast News) - London's FTSE 100 was down 0.4% at 9,854.15 in afternoon trade on Monday. With the Christmas break fast approaching, there wasn't a whole lot happening on the corporate front but precious metals miner Fresnillo shot to the top of the index as gold and silver prices hit fresh highs.

Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said: "Precious metals miners led the way, as they have for much of 2025, with gold hitting a new all-time high on expectations of further interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve and robust demand for its safe haven qualities."

Neil Wilson, UK investor strategist at Saxo Markets, said gold and silver were benefiting from some end-of-year hedging by investors.

"The structural tailwinds that have driven both of these to record highs this year persist, be it central bank demand for gold or surging industrial demand for silver. The latest surge comes after soft inflation and employment readings in the US last week, which reinforced expectations around the Fed's policy easing next year," he said.

He added that "geopolitics remains a factor, too".

Heavily-weighted miners Rio Tinto, Glencore and Antofagasta also rallied.

Oil giants BP and Shell gushed higher as oil prices rose after the US boarded a sanctioned oil tanker near Venezuela.

"The US has imposed an oil blockade on Venezuela, to choke off revenues that fund the Maduro government," said Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB.

"When the oil blockade was announced last week, it sent the price of oil soaring and helped Brent crude to rise above $60 after it had slid below this key threshold on the back of concerns about excess supply. However, there is a concern that Venezuela alone does not currently produce enough oil to move the market for the long term and gains could be fleeting."

FTSE 100 - Risers

Fresnillo (FRES) 3,252.00p 2.59%

Rio Tinto (RIO) 5,884.00p 0.79%

Airtel Africa (AAF) 328.00p 0.49%

Glencore (GLEN) 390.70p 0.30%

Halma (HLMA) 3,592.00p 0.28%

Shell (SHEL) 2,709.50p 0.24%

BP (BP.) 425.55p 0.16%

Babcock International Group (BAB) 1,252.00p 0.16%

The Sage Group (SGE) 1,086.00p 0.14%

Antofagasta (ANTO) 3,145.00p 0.13%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

DCC (CDI) (DCC) 4,696.00p -5.63%

Diageo (DGE) 1,623.00p -3.31%

CRH (CDI) (CRH) 9,270.00p -2.54%

Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (DI) (CCEP) 6,820.00p -2.29%

Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 1,147.50p -1.92%

Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 320.80p -1.78%

Convatec Group (CTEC) 238.00p -1.73%

3i Group (III) 3,222.00p -1.62%

Entain (ENT) 743.60p -1.54%

United Utilities Group (UU.) 1,170.00p -1.52%