- FTSE 100 came within a whisker of 10,000 points on the open
Gold and defence stocks are rising this morning after the surprise capture of the Venezuelan president over the weekend.
However, the price of oil stumbled as concerns of oversupply outweighed the geopolitical risk.
The FTSE 100 came within a whisker of 10,000 points on the open and is currently trading up 0.27 per cent to 9,978 points.
The blue-chip index was buoyed by miners and defence stocks, which tend to benefit from growing geopolitical tensions.
Defence giants BAE Systems and Babcock led the FTSE 100, with shares up 4.45 per cent and 3.85 per cent, while Endeavour Mining (4.38 per cent) and Anglo American (3.65 per cent) were boosted by higher gold prices.
On the other end, Imperial Brands and United Utilities Group led the FTSE’s fallers, down 2.46 per cent and 2.16 per cent, respectively.
Precious metals have continued their strong performance into 2026, as investors flock to safety again after the weekend. The price of gold inched up by 2 per cent to $4,432, while silver jumped 5 per cent to $76.48.
FTSE higher: The blue-chip index was boosted by defence stocks and gold miners
Oil prices fall
Oil stocks BP and Shell opened strongly but slipped to trade down 0.8 per cent by 9am, as oil prices stumbled.
Brent crude fell 1.3 per cent to $59.43, while the price of the US benchmark West Texas Intermediate slipped 1.17 per cent to $56.65.
Venezuela accounts for around 1 per cent of global oil output, largely due to US sanctions and a naval blockade, but it holds around 17 per cent of the world’s crude reserve.
Neil Wilson, UK investor strategist at Saxo Markets says: ‘The market is probably more focused on the overhang of 2025 oversupply than near-term geopolitical risks.
‘Longer term, with 17 per cent of proven global oil reserves, anything to improve Venezuela’s oil production would serve to lower prices and it looks like the market reaction is focused more barrels coming online.
‘Trump promised US companies would go in and ‘spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken [oil] infrastructure’. I’m not sure we are about to see Chevron come in and turn Venezuela back to pumping 4million barrels a day – it will take years and require tens of billions of dollars of investment.’
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