Business
Stocks post modest gains while gold pushes higher
The FTSE 100 made steady progress on Monday with a boost from defence stocks and gold miners partially offset by falls in utility stocks.
The FTSE 100 index closed up 9.0 points, 0.1%, at 9,196.34. The FTSE 250 ended 27.97 points higher, 0.1%, at 21,633.69 and the AIM All-Share finished up 4.54 points, 0.6%, at 768.64.
In Europe, the CAC 40 in Paris up 0.1%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt closed 0.6% higher.
Financial markets in New York were closed on Monday for Labor Day.
This week’s US calendar is packed with labour market data, culminating in Friday’s August jobs report.
FactSet consensus looks for a nonfarms figure of 110,000 in August compared to 73,000 in July, and an unchanged unemployment rate of 4.2%.
Attention will focus on the extent of revisions to the prior month’s figures, given the hefty revisions in July’s report.
June was revised down from 147,000 to just 14,000, the worst monthly reading since January 2021, when 183,000 jobs were shed. May’s reading was downwardly revised to 19,000 from 144,000. In total, employment in May and June combined was 258,000 lower than previously reported.
The pound firmed to 1.3548 dollars late on Monday afternoon in London, compared to 1.3510 dollars at the equities close on Friday. The euro rose to 1.1705 dollars, against 1.1699 dollars. Against the yen, the dollar was trading higher at 147.27 yen compared to 146.92 yen.
There was mixed news on the UK housing market, with a stronger-than-forecast rise in mortgage approvals in July offset by a surprise drop in house prices in August.
Data from the Bank of England showed net mortgage borrowing by individuals fell to £4.5 billion in July from £5.4 billion in June, but mortgage approvals for house purchases edged up slightly to 65,400 from 64,600, beating FXStreet consensus for a fall to 64,000. Approvals for remortgaging fell to 38,900 from 41,600.
But separate figures from Nationwide showed UK annual house price growth softened in August as affordability concerns continue to weigh on buyers.
The Nationwide house price index showed a 0.1% monthly decline in seasonally adjusted UK house prices in August, weakening from 0.5% growth a month earlier.
This underperformed against an FXStreet-cited consensus of 0.2% growth.
RBC Capital Markets analyst Anthony Codling said transaction volumes are “more important” to housebuilders than house prices.
“It doesn’t matter how high the price is if no one is buying, but with mortgage approvals just above their 10-year average, there are plenty of willing home buyers in the housing market and mortgage lenders are willing to approve the mortgages required to complete those purchases,” he added.
This points to a picture of a “healthy” housing market, he said.
On the FTSE 100, housebuilders Taylor Wimpey, Persimmon and Berkeley Group rose 0.3%, 1.0%, 0.1% respectively.
Elsewhere, a report showed the downturn in the UK manufacturing sector sharpened in August, as the sector contracted for the 11th month running.
Data from S&P Global showed the manufacturing purchasing managers’ index fell to 47 points in August from 48 in July, remaining below the 50-point neutral mark. It also slightly underperformed the flash reading of 47.3 points.
Weak market conditions, tariff uncertainty and subdued client confidence contributed to a sharp drop in new order intake in August, as both domestic and overseas demand fell.
BAE Systems rose 1.9% after the UK government announced on Sunday that Norway had selected the firm’s Type 26 frigate for its anti-submarine requirement for five ships, worth about £10 billion.
Analysts at Citi said the Norwegian order is worth about 10p to 15p per share for BAE Systems.
Rolls-Royce climbed 2.8% after reports suggested it is speaking to advisers about funding options for its small nuclear reactor business, which could include an initial public offer of shares.
Endeavour Mining and Fresnillo benefited from the rising gold price, advancing 3.5% and 2.1%.
Gold climbed to 3,476.94 dollars an ounce against 3,445.38 dollars on Friday.
Tesco rose 2% as analysts at UBS and JPMorgan issued positive research notes.
UBS raised its share price target to 475p from 435p and thinks robust first-half results, due in October, will set the tone for further earnings upgrades.
The broker expects the food retailer to lift the lower end of group earnings before interest and tax guidance, currently £2.7 billion to £3 billion, though likely to maintain the top end for now.
Kainos jumped 23% as it said it expects revenue to be at the top end of expectations after a strong start to the financial year.
The London-based Workday partner and provider of IT services to public sector, commercial and healthcare customers said it delivered a sequential improvement in the period from April 1 to date, building on a “solid” fourth-quarter 2025 performance.
As a result, Kainos now expects revenue for the financial year ending March 31 at the upper end of the consensus range of forecasts of £378 million to £393.4 million, which would be growth of as much as 7.1% from £367.2 million the year prior.
Shore Capital analyst Martin O’Sullivan reckons “resilient, well-managed” Kainos is primed to capitalise on the upturn in digital services that is beginning to materialise.
Flying high, shares in Immupharma leapt 99% as it announced the filing of a “ground-breaking” new patent application for its lead asset P140, the world’s first immunormalizer.
London-based Immupharma said the patent application, which provides the potential for 20 years of commercial exclusivity, discloses a novel diagnostic test and precision treatment approach.
The new diagnostic test is expected to shorten the time to diagnosis, improve patient selection for clinical trials, and enable smaller, faster and more successful trials, significantly increasing the probability of regulatory approval.
A barrel of Brent traded at 68.63 dollars (£50.68) late Monday afternoon, up from 67.41 dollars (£49.78) on Thursday.
The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 were Endeavour Mining, up 88p at 2,624p; IAG, up 11.5p at 393.6p; Rolls Royce, up 30p at 1,100p; Fresnillo, up 37p at 1,825p and Babcock International Group, up 21p at 1,037p.
The biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 were SSE, down 53.5p at 1,676.5p; United Utilities, down 28.5p at 1,121.5p; National Grid, down 21.5p at 1,019.5p; BT Group, down 4.3p at 212.2p and Severn Trent, down 48p at 2,538p.
Tuesday’s local corporate calendar sees full-year results from Alumasc and half-year numbers from Oxford Nanopore, Johnson Service Group and Uniphar.
The global economic calendar on Tuesday has US manufacturing PMI data and a eurozone inflation print.
Contributed by Alliance News.
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“Amazon to date has invested USD 40 billion in India since 2010. Now we will invest another USD 35 billion by 2030 across all our businesses in India,” Agarwal said.
Amazon To Invest USD 35 Bn In India By 2030 With Focus On AI-Driven Digitalisation
E-commerce giant Amazon is set to invest a mega-investment of USD 35 billion, over Rs 3.14 lakh crore, in India by 2030 across its businesses with a focus on AI-driven digitisation, export growth and job creation, a senior company official said on Wednesday.
Senior VP Emerging Markets, Amit Agarwal, made the announcement during the Amazon Smbhav Summit, saying the company has set a target to quadruple exports from India to USD 80 billion from about USD 20 billion.
“Amazon to date has invested USD 40 billion in India since 2010. Now we will invest another USD 35 billion by 2030 across all our businesses in India,” Agarwal said.
Amazon’s investment plan is two times of Microsoft’s investment plan of USD 17.5 billion and close to 2.3 times that of Google’s USD 15 billion investment plan by 2030.
With this investment, Amazon will become the largest foreign investor in India, according to a Keystone report compiled from publicly available data.
In May 2023, Amazon announced plans to invest USD 12.7 billion in India by 2030 into its local cloud and AI infrastructure across Telangana and Maharashtra. The company has already invested USD 3.7 billion in India between 2016 and 2022.
The company has invested at scale towards building physical and digital infrastructure, including fulfilment centres, transportation networks, data centres, digital payments infrastructure and technology development.
According to the Keystone report, Amazon has digitized over 12 million small businesses and enabled USD 20 billion in cumulative ecommerce exports, while supporting approximately 2.8 million direct, indirect, induced and seasonal jobs across industries in India in 2024.
(With inputs from agencies)
Click here to add News18 as your preferred news source on Google. December 10, 2025, 10:58 IST
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Business
Stock market today: Nifty50 opens above 25,850; BSE Sensex up over 100 points – The Times of India
Stock market today: Nifty50 and BSE Sensex, the Indian equity benchmark indices, opened in green on Wednesday. While Nifty50 was above 25,850, BSE Sensex was up over 100 points. At 9:17 AM, Nifty50 was trading at 25,865.25, up 26 points or 0.099%. BSE Sensex was at 84,804.28, up 138 points.Dr. VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments Limited says, “As the year slowly draws to a close the market structure is becoming challenging. Heavy selling in the broader market is justified since valuations have been elevated and kept high only on the strength of liquidity. This is unsustainable. But the weakness in the overall market and sustained selling by FIIs are a bit disappointing. A major concern is the excessive delay in the finalisation of the US-India trade deal. A remark by President Trump yesterday that action should be taken on India for dumping rice in the US hurt sentiments further.”“Fundamentals are turning in favour of India. Higher growth and corporate earnings are achievable in the quarters ahead. The fiscal and monetary stimulus provided this year have started producing results. The excessively low inflation rate, which impacted nominal GDP growth, also will start rising in the coming quarters. This is significant since corporate earnings growth will be influenced more by nominal GDP growth rather than by real GDP growth. The fact that valuations in the large cap segment have become fair is another positive. These positive factors will start weighing on the market soon. Investors have to keep faith and wait patiently for the fundamentals to play out.”The S&P 500 declined on Tuesday as investors anticipated hawkish Federal Reserve messaging despite potential rate cuts. JPMorgan contributed significantly to the benchmark index’s decline following the bank’s announcement of substantial 2026 expenses.Asian markets showed modest gains following Wall Street’s subdued session, with investors awaiting the Federal Reserve’s final interest rate decision of the year.Foreign portfolio investors recorded net sales of Rs 3,760 crore on Tuesday, whilst domestic institutional investors showed net purchases of Rs 6,225 crore.(Disclaimer: Recommendations and views on the stock market, other asset classes or personal finance management tips given by experts are their own. These opinions do not represent the views of The Times of India)
Ads for prostate supplements and home testing kits have been banned over concerns they could mislead vulnerable people or steer them away from appropriate medical advice.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) banned ads for four supplement brands – Nutrisslim, Nutreance, Muxue Trade and Impact Herbs – for making claims that their products could treat medical issues such as enlarged prostate, urinary flow problems or prostate inflammation.
None of the products were authorised medicines and advertising rules state that food products, including supplements, cannot make medicinal claims.
Nutreance, trading as Top 5 Supplements, said its ads did not state or imply that its product treated, cured or prevented any disease or medical symptoms, and the ads made no references to diseases, diagnoses, pathological conditions or clinical outcomes.
Nutrisslim, trading as Nature’s Finest by Nutrisslim, said the claims used in its ads related to botanical ingredients, which it understood could be used in advertising.
It said “visual materials” featuring a doctor and any related references had been removed from its website, including a reference to the product being “doctor-formulated”.
Impact Herbs, trading as Impact Supps, and Muxue did not respond to the ASA.
The ASA also banned ads from two home testing kit companies – Self Check and Lifelab Testing – for claiming that Prostate-Specific Antigen (PSA) tests could diagnose or rule out prostate cancer.
Self Check said its products were CE certified for self testing in line with UK legislation.
It further said that every product page contained a disclaimer that informed consumers that because the tests were not 100% at diagnosing a specific medical condition, they may wish to speak to their NHS GP first, who could arrange a test if needed.
It also said that it had removed the word “cancer” in the headings and descriptions of the Google ads for the product.
Lifelab also said it held the correct CE markings for an in-vitro diagnostic device, and that the product was suitable for sale in the UK.
It also said the ads had been removed and would not be used again.
A PSA test alone cannot do either, and in both cases the ads failed to make clear that these tests had limitations.
The ASA came across the ads during a sweep of healthcare claims using its AI-powered Active Ad Monitoring system.
The ASA said many of the claims it had seen in the latest investigations were “unacceptable”, and had not only broken a number of its rules but risked misleading vulnerable people, or steering those who needed it away from appropriate medical advice.
It said this was “especially worrying when it comes to men’s health”, adding that prostate symptoms could be worrying and, for some, difficult to talk about, meaning that ads promising quick fixes or simple answers “can seem even more appealing”.
However, misleading claims could give false reassurance or make it harder for people to know when to speak to a doctor, “which is why it’s so important that information about prostate health is accurate and responsible”, the ASA said.
Jess Tye, regulatory projects manager at the ASA, said: “When it comes to health, people deserve honesty.
“Misleading ads about prostate supplements or tests can cause real harm, and today’s rulings hold advertisers to account.
“We’re continuing to monitor this sector closely, using our AI tools to spot problem ads early on. And if someone does have a concern about an ad they’ve seen, we’d encourage them to get in touch.”
Joseph Burt, head of diagnostics and general medical devices at the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), said: “The MHRA welcomes the ASA’s action to tackle misleading claims about PSA home-testing kits.
“At-home or over-the-counter PSA tests help members of the public monitor their prostate health, but are not a definitive test for prostate cancer. These tests must not claim to detect prostate cancer, and consumers should carefully check the labelling and read the instructions for use.
“The MHRA has recognised the expansion of over-the-counter tests, including PSA tests.
“As part of our surveillance of medical devices, we continue to monitor the safety of these devices. Manufacturers of these tests have an important role in ensuring information about direct-to-consumer tests are put into context for the general public who use these tests as well as monitoring the use of the tests.”
Amy Rylance, assistant director of health improvement at Prostate Cancer UK, said: “We are very pleased to see the ASA getting proactive in identifying and banning these dangerous and misleading adverts.
“There is no evidence that supplements can treat, cure or prevent prostate problems, and they should not be used in place of speaking to a doctor about your risk of prostate cancer, or more general concerns about your prostate health.
“While there are a range of at-home PSA self-test kits on the market currently, the accuracy and safety of these tests is not proven, and so we only recommend getting a PSA blood test from a healthcare professional.
“It’s important to remember that prostate cancer often has no symptoms in its earlier, more treatable stages, so it’s crucial for a man to understand his own risk and not to wait for potential signs or symptoms. Any men worried about their risk of prostate cancer or looking to find out more about testing can take Prostate Cancer UK’s 30-second online Risk Checker.”
Consumers can check the registration status of PSA tests via the MHRA’s Public Access Registrations Database.
Anyone concerned about the quality or safety of a PSA test should report it to the MHRA via the Yellow Card scheme.
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