London stocks had flattened out by midday on Friday, paring earlier small losses as investors paused for breath after fresh highs in the previous session, with miners under the cosh as copper prices fell.
The FTSE 100 was steady at 10,238.10, having closed up 0.5% at 10,238.94 on Thursday after better-than-expected GDP data.

Dan Coatsworth, head of markets at AJ Bell, said: "Investors have been kept on their toes year-to-date with non-stop geopolitical issues, and mixed messages from the business world. A quieter day on the corporate reporting calendar gave investors a chance to catch their breath and take stock of events."

In equity markets, miners slumped as copper prices fell on reports that Chinese regulators have ordered exchanges to remove servers operated by high frequency traders from their data centres. Rio Tinto, Antofagasta, Anglo American and Glencore all lost ground.

On the upside, InterContinental Hotels gained after an initiation at 'outperform' by CICC.

Defence firms BAE Systems, Babcock and Rolls-Royce rallied as Nato personnel from a number of European countries landed in Greenland for an exercise after Trump restated his desire to own the island.

Neil Wilson, UK investor strategist at Saxo Markets, said it was "hardly a show of force, but a reminder of what's at stake here".

The gains also came amid news the UK will open a business centre in Kyiv this year to help defence start-ups send more military hardware into Ukraine.

Animal genetics specialist Genus surged as it lifted guidance on the back of robust trading.

The company said it had performed "strongly" in the six months to 31 December, and now expects adjusted pre-tax profits to come in around £50m in actual currency, ahead of internal forecasts. Including a milestone payment from Beijing Capital Agribusiness (BCA), interim profits are expected to be £55.6m.

Looking further ahead, the firm also flagged full-year profits were now tracking "moderately" above the top end of current market expectations.

Ninety One rose after it said assets under management increased to £159.8bn in the third quarter, from £152.1bn at the end of September.

Close Brothers shot up after RBC Capital Markets upgraded the stock to 'outperform' from 'sector perform' and hiked the price target to 625p from 475p. "We think the bank has more fat that it can trim on costs, which is not reflected in consensus," RBC said.

"It's tight, but we think that CBG's CET1 ratio can absorb a full top-up for motor finance, incremental restructuring and mid-to-high single digit loan growth."

Impax Environmental Markets gained after saying it planned to offer activist investor Saba a cash exit via a tender offer for up to 100% of its stake at close to net asset value while giving investors who want to remain the ability to do so.

Auction Technology surged after its largest shareholder, FitzWalter Capital, said it was considering an increased possible cash offer for the online auction operator of 400p a share.

Fitzwalter has already made 11 buyout proposals to ATG, the most recent of which - at 360p a share - was rejected on the basis that it fundamentally undervalues the company. But FitzWalter said on Friday that it is now considering increasing the proposal to 400p a share, which would value ATG at £491m. It would also represent a premium of about 48% to the undisturbed share price on 2 January.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 10,238.10 -0.01%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 23,324.63 0.19%
techMARK (TASX) 5,923.42 0.82%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Schroders (SDR) 471.20p 2.79%
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 139.85p 2.42%
BAE Systems (BA.) 2,081.00p 1.96%
Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 1,589.00p 1.73%
St James's Place (STJ) 1,527.50p 1.43%
Babcock International Group (BAB) 1,487.00p 1.29%
3i Group (III) 3,384.00p 1.29%
British Land Company (BLND) 409.20p 1.24%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 1,288.50p 1.22%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 367.30p 1.05%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Pearson (PSON) 938.60p -4.09%
Next (NXT) 13,500.00p -3.30%
Entain (ENT) 705.60p -2.92%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 3,588.00p -2.10%
Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,267.00p -1.67%
Tesco (TSCO) 421.50p -1.63%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 6,367.00p -1.56%
Anglo American (AAL) 3,271.00p -1.48%
GSK (GSK) 1,822.00p -1.41%
Glencore (GLEN) 484.20p -1.38%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Ninety One (N91) 243.00p 6.30%
Genus (GNS) 2,795.00p 6.27%
Ashmore Group (ASHM) 237.40p 5.32%
AEP Plantations (AEP) 1,495.00p 4.55%
Impax Environmental Markets (IEM) 425.50p 4.55%
Close Brothers Group (CBG) 530.00p 4.02%
Watches of Switzerland Group (WOSG) 493.80p 3.39%
Rathbones Group (RAT) 2,225.00p 3.25%
Shawbrook Group (SHAW) 443.25p 2.84%
QinetiQ Group (QQ.) 517.50p 2.78%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Travis Perkins (TPK) 663.50p -2.14%
Playtech (PTEC) 276.00p -1.78%
Savills (SVS) 1,090.00p -1.62%
Ibstock (IBST) 137.40p -1.58%
Greggs (GRG) 1,647.00p -1.55%
Breedon Group (BREE) 335.00p -1.41%
Elementis (ELM) 171.60p -1.38%
Hilton Food Group (HFG) 504.00p -1.37%
Pan African Resources (PAF) 123.40p -1.28%
Endeavour Mining (EDV) 4,054.00p -1.27%