Rio Tinto raises copper production forecasts, Legal & General maintains profit guidance

London open

The FTSE 100 is expected to open 35 points lower on Wednesday, having closed up 0.56% on Tuesday at 8,359.41.

Stocks to watch

Rio Tinto on Wednesday forecast higher consolidated mined copper production for the 2025 financial year driven by higher output from its Oyu Tolgoi operation in Mongolia. The miner said it expected copper production of 780,000 - 850,000 tonnes, compared with 660,000-720,000 tons expected in fiscal 2024. In a separate announcement, Rio said it was selling a 30% stake in its Winu copper-gold project in Australia to Japan’s Sumitomo Metal Mining Co. for $399m.

Financial services and investment group Legal & General has maintained profit guidance for the full year and hinted at more returns for shareholders than previously announced. The company said it expects to return to shareholders a proportion of the capital not deployed on strain this year which “would be incremental to the capital return intentions indicated at the Capital Markets Event in June”.

Newspaper round-up

Ministers are considering renationalising British Steel in a last-ditch attempt to save thousands of jobs, amid a standoff between the government and the company’s Chinese owners over a £1bn investment. Jonathan Reynolds, the business secretary, is locked in talks with British Steel and its owner, Jingye, to agree how much each party should put into a rescue plan for its main Scunthorpe site. – Guardian

Four of Britain’s oldest nuclear power plants will continue running for more than a decade longer than initially planned to help bridge a gap before the delayed Hinkley Point nuclear station starts up. The owner of Britain’s nuclear plants, the French energy company EDF, said it had agreed to extend the lifetime of its reactors yet again to “boost energy security and reduce dependence on imported gas”. – Guardian

Labour will take South Western Railway under public control next spring, marking the first step in Sir Keir Starmer’s sweeping plan to reverse 30 years of privatisation. It is understood that the London commuter service will be seized once South Western’s contract expires next May. The Government is set to confirm the plan as soon as Wednesday. – Telegraph

A Commons committee has warned that the two-year delay in reforming the UK’s official labour market statistics is a “major blow” that could lead the Bank of England and the government into making “misinformed” decisions about the economy. Dame Meg Hillier, chair of the Treasury select committee, said that the delay would rob policymakers of reliable data about the jobs market making “some of the most consequential decisions taken by the Treasury and Bank of England challenging at best and misinformed at worst”. – The Times

The co-founder and chief executive of Revolut has said it is “not rational” to float its shares in the UK over the US, further reducing the prospect of the new government convincing the valuable start-up to list in London. Nik Storonsky, 40, said “sooner or later” the London-based fintech company will want to consider floating on the public market to return money to shareholders, but he said share stamp duty and less liquidity reduced the appeal of London as a listing destination. – The Times

US close

US stocks finished mixed again on Tuesday with markets rangebound amid global geopolitical uncertainty and a surge in oil prices – though the S&P 500 and Nasdaq still managed to close at record highs.

The S&P 500 edged 0.05% higher to a new peak of 6,049.88, while the Nasdaq gained 0.4% to a fresh high of 19,480.91.

However, the Dow fell for the second straight day after hitting a record on Friday, slipping 0.2% to 44,705.28.

Oil prices, which were already higher ahead of this week's OPEC+ meeting, jumped in afternoon trade after South Korea's president Yoon Suk Yeol declared emergency martial law, arguing that it was needed to defend the country from communists in North Korea.

West Texas Intermediate crude was up 2.8% at $69.97 a barrel.