Stock prices in London closed higher on Thursday, after a surprise drop in US jobless claims.

The FTSE 100 index closed up 54.59 points, 0.5%, at 10,238.94. The FTSE 250 ended up 322.67 points, 1.4%, at 23,279.98, and the AIM All-Share closed up 2.79 points, 0.4%, at 804.48.

London-based asset manager Schroders was the strongest FTSE 100 performer, up 9.8%, after it forecast adjusted operating profit of at least £745 million for 2025, up 24% from £603.1 million a year earlier.

On the FTSE 250, Ashmore led with a 24% jump.

The London-based emerging markets-focused asset manager’s total assets under management stood at 52.5 billion dollars at December 31, up 7.8% from 48.7 billion dollars at September 30, thanks to 2.6 billion dollars in positive net flows and 1.2 billion dollars in positive investment performance in the three months.

Ashmore said that its near-term outlook for emerging markets investment is underpinned by continued superior growth compared with the developed world.

Dunelm led the laggers, falling 20%.

The Leicestershire, England-based homewares retailer said total sales rose 1.6% year-on-year in the 13 weeks to December 27, bringing first-half sales to £926 million, up 3.6%.

However, trading in the second-quarter was softer than anticipated, and Dunelm now expects financial 2026 pre-tax profit to land at the lower end of the analyst consensus range of £214 million to £227 million.

In small caps, Panther Metals rose 17%.

The London-based mineral deposits explorer has signed a three-year purchase option over three gold and base metal properties in Ontario’s Obonga greenstone belt, securing rights through January 2029.

Foxtons lost 6.3%.

The London-based real estate and lettings agency reported full-year 2025 revenue of around £172 million, up from £163.9 million, with broadly flat adjusted operating profit.

Foxtons forecast revenue and profit growth in 2026, although it said sales begin the year with a lower under-offer pipeline and Q1 2026 sales revenues are set to be below Q1 2025.

In European equities on Thursday, the CAC 40 in Paris closed down 0.2%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt ended up 0.4%.

Troops from several European countries, including France, Germany, the UK, Norway and Sweden, are arriving in Greenland in a show of support for the Arctic island’s security.

The move came after talks between representatives of Denmark, Greenland and the US on Wednesday highlighted “fundamental disagreement” between the Trump administration and European allies on the future of the autonomous territory of Denmark.

The pound was quoted lower at 1.3388 dollars at the time of the London equities close on Thursday, compared to 1.3450 dollars on Wednesday. The euro stood at 1.1607 dollars, lower against 1.1650 dollars. Against the yen, the dollar was trading at 158.48 yen, up from 158.25 yen.

Stocks in New York were higher. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.7%, the S&P 500 index up 0.6%, and the Nasdaq Composite up 0.9%.

Two US manufacturing surveys showed unexpectedly strong improvements for January.

The Empire State manufacturing survey showed that the headline general business conditions index climbed 11.4 points to 7.7 points in January, compared to negative 3.7 points in December, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York reported. It was ahead of the FXStreet-cited consensus, which had expected an improvement to plus one point in January.

Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia’s January manufacturing business outlook survey showed the general activity index jumped to 12.6 points in January from a revised reading of negative 8.8 points in December. The FXStreet consensus had expected a more modest improvement to negative two.

Separately, US import prices increased 0.4% over the two months to November from September, while US export prices increased 0.5% over the same period, figures from the Bureau of Labour Statistics (BLS) showed.

The BLS did not collect survey data for October due to the federal government shutdown.

US initial jobless claims unexpectedly fell in the week just gone, numbers from the Department of Labour showed.

New unemployment insurance claims in the week that ended January 10 – this past Saturday – fell to 198,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 207,000. The latest reading was below the FXStreet-cited market consensus of a rise to 215,000 initial claims.

The four-week moving average was 205,000, down 6,500 from the previous week’s revised average of 211,500. This is the lowest level for this average since January 20 2024, when it was 203,250.

The yield on the US 10-year Treasury was quoted at 4.16%, widening from 4.14%. The yield on the US 30-year Treasury was quoted at 4.78%, narrowing from 4.80%.

Brent oil was quoted at 63.55 dollars a barrel at the time of the London equities close on Thursday, down from 65.97 dollars late on Wednesday.

The European Commission announced that the price cap for Russian oil will be lowered again.

In July, EU countries agreed to lower the price cap from 60 dollars to 47.60 dollars per barrel and to introduce an automatic mechanism with the aim that the cap would always be 15% lower than the average market price for Urals crude in the previous six months.

This adjustment mechanism has now caused the cap to be lowered to 44.10 dollars per barrel from February 1.

Gold was quoted at 4,616.76 dollars an ounce, down against 4,621.15 dollars.

The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 were Schroders, up 41p at 458.4p; 3i, up 288.65p at 3,323.6p; Persimmon, up 55p at 1,406.5p; Smiths, up 91.5p at 2,551.5p; and LondonMetric Property, up 7.2p at 202.6p.

The biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 were Burberry, down 42p at 1,288.5p; AstraZeneca, down 320p at 14,026p; GSK, down 32.5p at 1,848p; Compass, down 40p at 2,281p; and BT, down 2.7p at 180.9p.

On Friday’s economic calendar, look out for German consumer inflation and US industrial production.

On Friday’s UK corporate calendar, Johnson Service and MJ Gleeson have trading updates scheduled.

Contributed by Alliance News.