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FTSE 100 hits new high on electricity generator SSE spark and gold gains

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FTSE 100 hits new high on electricity generator SSE spark and gold gains



The FTSE 100 climbed to another fresh peak on Wednesday, powered by gains in electricity generator SSE and gold miners as the precious metal rose once more.

The FTSE 100 index closed up 11.82 points, or 0.1%, at 9,911.42, a record closing peak. It had earlier set a new intra-day best of 9,930.09.

The FTSE 250 ended 14.56 points lower, or 0.1%, at 22,135.32, and the AIM All-Share climbed 3.92 points, 0.5%, at 763.16.

In London, sterling took the brunt of some political to-and-fro as Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer denied authorising briefings against potential challengers.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting was earlier forced to deny speculation about a possible coup, partly stoked by Downing Street briefings that the Prime Minister would fight any such move.

“Any attack on any member of my cabinet is unacceptable,” Sir Keir said. He added that he had “never authorised attacks on cabinet ministers” by Number 10 staff.

Sterling was quoted at 1.3134 dollars at the time of the London equities close on Wednesday, lower compared with 1.3173 dollars on Tuesday.

The euro stood at 1.1592 dollars, down slightly against 1.1594 dollars. Against the yen, the dollar was trading higher at 154.74 yen, compared with 154.02 yen.

But bond yields held steady with the UK 10-year gilt at 4.41%, up only slightly from 4.40% on Tuesday.

The speculation failed to dim demand for blue chips in London.

Joshua Mahony, analyst at Scope Markets noted that in a year that has brought “major volatility on the other side of the pond, it is interesting to see the seemingly boring and old-fashioned FTSE 100 fare particularly well”.

He noted banks, defence and mining stocks have done especially well, with the construction of the index actually benefiting from some of the key themes that have dominated 2025 so far.

“With the latest jobs report providing greater confidence over a rate cut from the Bank of England next month, there is reason to believe that we could also see more domestically focused stocks fare well amid a more accommodative monetary policy,” he suggested.

Leading the way, SSE surged 17% after announcing plans to raise £2 billion in fresh equity to help finance a £33 billion five-year investment plan, significantly increasing its exposure to UK electricity networks.

The Perth-based electricity generator said the plan for the timeframe to the financial year ending March 2030 represents a trebling of investment over the five-year period.

“This ‘transformation for growth’ investment plan is built on a once-in-a-generation opportunity to upgrade the UK electricity network and build a cleaner, more secure and more affordable energy system,” said SSE chief executive Martin Pibworth.

The generator outlined plans to grow earnings and dividends out to 2030 which were well received, while the equity issue was viewed as unsurprising.

Jefferies analyst Ahmed Farman said the plan is a “clear positive”, bringing “clarity on the balance sheet and the company’s growth outlook”.

In European equities on Wednesday, the CAC 40 in Paris closed up 1.1%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt jumped 1.2%.

In New York, markets were mixed.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.7% at around the time of the London close. The S&P 500 index was 0.1% lower, while the Nasdaq Composite declined 0.5%.

Hopes remain high of an end to the federal government shutdown ahead of a key vote on Wednesday.

But analysts at TD Economics said while a resolution “finally appears in sight” this “very much feels like another patch solution” from lawmakers.

“The continuing resolution only extends funding for much of government through the end of January,” the broker noted, meaning there’s a “very real risk” of a partial government shutdown come February.

The yield on the US 10-year Treasury was at 4.07%, narrowed from 4.12% on Tuesday. The yield on the US 30-year Treasury was quoted at 4.67%, trimmed from 4.71%.

Gold traded higher at 4,184.48 dollars an ounce on Wednesday against 4,108.75 dollars on Tuesday.

The latest gains helped push Endeavour Mining and Fresnillo up 3.5% and 1.8% respectively.

Elsewhere, luxury goods manufacturer Burberry, up 4.0%, and insurer Aviva, up 1.9%, were in favour ahead of half-year results on Thursday.

Aviva is expected to unveil new financial targets and update on the progress of the Direct Line Insurance acquisition.

But Experian fell 4.5% despite raising its guidance for financial 2026 revenue growth and margin improvement, saying “AI-driven automation and personalisation” is transforming its customer relationships and internal processes.

Auto Trader was also on the back foot, down 3.7%, as Bank of America downgraded to ‘neutral’ from ‘buy’, while Hiscox fell 2.8% as Jefferies double-downgraded to ‘underperform’ from ‘buy’.

On the FTSE 250, housebuilder Taylor Wimpey fell 3.8% as it flagged softer market conditions amid budget uncertainty.

Nonetheless, the firm continues to expect 2025 UK completions excluding joint ventures of between 10,400 to 10,800 homes, and 2025 group operating profit including joint ventures of around £424 million.

Meanwhile, London-based IT-focused professional services provider FDM jumped 5.0% as Deutsche Bank upgraded to ‘buy’ from ‘neutral’.

Brent oil was quoted higher at 65.19 dollars a barrel at the time of the London equities close on Wednesday, from 65.19 dollars late on Tuesday.

The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 were SSE, up 332.5 pence at 2,307.0p, Games Workshop, up 920.0p at 16,320.0p, Burberry, up 48.5p at 1,253.5p, Endeavour Mining, up 110.0p at 3,214.0p and Airtel Africa, up 8.4p at 312.4p.

The biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 were Experian, down 156.0p at 3,323.0p, Auto Trader, down 26.8p at 702.6p, 3i Group, down 142.0p at 4,069.0p, London Stock Exchange, down 270.0p at 8,916.0p and Relx, down 91.0p at 3,136.0p.

Thursday’s global economic calendar has UK GDP, trade and industrial production data.

Thursday’s UK corporate calendar has half-year results from insurer Aviva, luxury goods manufacturer Burberry, discount retailer B&M European Retail and water utility United Utilities.

In addition, housebuilder Persimmon and aerospace and defence firm Rolls Royce will provide trading updates.

Contributed by Alliance News



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Four ports under construction in Andhra Pradesh, Centre tells Lok Sabha – The Times of India

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Four ports under construction in Andhra Pradesh, Centre tells Lok Sabha – The Times of India


The Centre is pushing port-led infrastructure expansion in Andhra Pradesh, with four ports currently under construction, even as it steps up nationwide port modernisation and efficiency measures.As per information shared on Friday in Parliament, the ports under construction in Andhra Pradesh are Mulapeta Port (formerly Bhavanapadu Port) in Srikakulam district, Machilipatnam Port in Krishna district, Ramayapatnam Port in SPSR Nellore district, and Kakinada SEZ Port in Kakinada district.The government said it is undertaking measures such as mechanisation of berths and terminals, digitalisation and logistics integration, new berth construction, capital dredging for larger vessels, and connectivity upgrades across road, rail and waterways.It has also rolled out initiatives including elimination of manual forms, direct port delivery and entry, container scanners, e-delivery of documents and payments, RFID-based gate automation and Maritime Single Window platform SagarSetu 2.0 to cut vessel turnaround time.Two new ports — Vadhavan Port in Maharashtra and Galathea Bay Port in Andaman and Nicobar Islands — have been notified as major ports. At present, 12 major ports operate under the central government, while 68 other-than-major ports are under state governments.Under the Sagarmala scheme, financial assistance is provided across five pillars including port modernisation, connectivity, port-led industrialisation, coastal community development and inland water transport.The government has also launched HaritSagar green port guidelines, the Green Tug Transition Programme (GTTP), and the Cruise Bharat Mission to promote sustainability and cruise tourism.The information was given by Union Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.At present, 12 major ports operate under the administrative control of the central government, while 68 operational other-than-major ports are under state governments.The government said it has launched multiple national programmes for port development, expansion and upgradation. Under the Sagarmala scheme, financial assistance is provided under five pillars — port modernisation, port connectivity, port-led industrialisation, coastal community development, and coastal shipping and inland water transport.Green and sustainability-linked initiatives have also been introduced. The government has launched HaritSagar green port guidelines to promote environment-friendly port ecosystems and initiated the Green Tug Transition Programme (GTTP) to shift harbour tugs towards greener fuel alternatives.Further, the Cruise Bharat Mission has been launched to prioritise cruise tourism development across the country.



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Anthropic At $380 Billion Surpasses India’s Top IT Firms Combined As AI Fears Rock Stocks

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Anthropic At 0 Billion Surpasses India’s Top IT Firms Combined As AI Fears Rock Stocks


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Anthropic’s AI tools have triggered a sharp decline in Indian IT stocks like TCS, Infosys, Wipro, eroding Rs 3,11,873 crore in market value.

Anthropic's valuation surpassed combined value of total IT firms in India

Anthropic’s valuation surpassed combined value of total IT firms in India

The entire Information Technology (IT) industry in India is battering with the existential threat, which comes on the heels of rising generative AI, posing doubts over the viability of their business model.

Stocks of the IT industries, including Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Infosys, Wipro, etc., hit brutally over the past week. This was triggered with the launch of new AI tools by Anthropic’s Claude for Cowork, which is like an office teammate helping the user to do tasks such as file sorting, reading legal drafts, etc.

Anthropic’s Valuation vs Nifty IT Index

Anthropic’s phenomenal valuation rise has surpassed the combined value of India’s top IT firms. Standing at a valuation of $380 billion, the US-based AI company has eclipsed India’s Nifty IT index, whose market cap was at $296.4 billion by the time of writing this report.

Investors are accelerating their exit from technology stocks as concerns intensify that advanced artificial intelligence tools could disrupt core segments of the global software and IT services industry.

This week alone, TCS, Infosys and HCL Technologies dragged 9-11 per cent.

The sharp correction has wiped out substantial investor wealth. Based on intraday lows, the combined market capitalisation of the top five domestic IT companies has eroded by nearly Rs 3,11,873 crore this week.

TCS emerged as the biggest laggard, losing Rs 1,28,800 crore in market value, with its market capitalisation slipping to Rs 9,35,253 crore. The fall also pushed it to the fifth-most valued listed company from the fourth position.

Infosys has seen its market capitalisation shrink by Rs 91,431 crore following a 15 per cent decline this week. HCL Technologies has lost Rs 53,647 crore in market value over the past five trading sessions. Wipro and Tech Mahindra have also recorded declines, with their market capitalisations falling by Rs 22,762 crore and Rs 15,233 crore, respectively, during the same period.

Company Name Mcap ($Billion)
Tata Consultancy Services 107.4
Infosys 61.2
HCL Technologies 43.6
Wipro 24.8
Tech Mahindra 16.6
LTIMindtree 16.7
Persistent Systems 9.5
Oracle Financial Services Soft 6.4
Coforge 5
Mphasis 5.2
Total 296.4
Source: Bloomberg

Anthropic’s Recent Funding Round

Anthropic has recently raised $30 billion in Series G funding led by GIC and Coatue, valuing Anthropic at $380 billion post-money, as announced by the company in the press release.

The investment will fuel the frontier research, product development, and infrastructure expansions that have made Anthropic the market leader in enterprise AI and coding.

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IndiGo plans to hire over 1,000 pilots after December’s crew crunch – The Times of India

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IndiGo plans to hire over 1,000 pilots after December’s crew crunch – The Times of India


IndiGo, the country’s largest airline is set to go on a hiring spree, bringing over 1,000 pilots on board. This comes after the aviation giant faced massive operational disruption last December, when the company was forced to cancel more than 5,000 flights within seven days.The fresh intake will span trainee first officers, senior first officers and commanders. A recruitment notice shows the carrier is also ready to accept applicants without time on the Airbus A320, the workhorse aircraft across its network, ET reported.Under the updated framework, the number of landings permitted between 12 am and 6 am has been limited, while the mandatory weekly rest period for pilots has gone up.A review carried out by the irectorate General of Civil Aviation concluded that the airline had neither hired in line with the new rules nor accelerated its training capacity. This, the probe noted, resulted in pilots being stretched through repeated reassignments, lengthier duty spans and greater use of deadheading, in which crew are moved as passengers to operate flights elsewhere.

Stepping up expansion

A senior official, as cited by ET, maintained that IndiGo is now lining up a steady supply of cockpit crew to keep pace with rapid aircraft additions. The airline’s in-house system is currently upgrading about 20–25 first officers to captain each month. Now, alongside hiring, the carrier has begun adjusting its network planning to create more breathing space in daily operations. From almost no buffer in December, the margin has been raised to 3% this month. Standby crew availability has also been lifted to a minimum of 15%.Fleet expansion is continuing at a brisk rate, with roughly four aircraft joining the airline every month on average.Training remains a long lead activity. Trainee first officers require around six months before they are cleared to operate, while promotion to captaincy demands at least 1,500 hours of flying, though airlines may prescribe stricter benchmarks.While the regulator’s baseline requirement is three sets of pilots per aircraft, including one captain and one first officer, IndiGo’s intense utilisation levels push its need to well over twice that figure.Figures placed during the inquiry into the December episode showed the airline needed 2,422 captains but had 2,357.

DGCA findings

After the disruption, the watchdog stepped in with temporary relaxations, suspending night-duty restriction rules until February 10.In its assessment, the DGCA said there was an overriding focus on maximising utilisation of crew, aircraft, and network resources, which significantly reduced roster buffer margins.The Directorate General of Civil Aviation said that the airline structured its crew schedules to extract the longest possible duty hours, leaning heavily on deadheading, tail swaps and stretched work patterns while leaving very little room for recovery. It noted that such planning weakened roster integrity and hurt operational resilience.



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