The FTSE 100 staged a dramatic comeback on Monday, having been swept up in a global sell-off driven by a rout in precious metals and tech stocks that pushed Asian and European stock markets into the red.
The UK’s blue-chip index was trading 0.4 per cent up to lunchtime, after opening down some 0.5 per cent as investors across the world dumped risky and commodity-based stocks.
Earlier, equities in Asia suffered their worst session since they were left reeling by Donald Trump’s ‘liberation day’ tariff announcements in April last year. South Korea’s Kospi index – a bellwether for the artificial intelligence trade – plunged by more than five per cent as fears that tech stock valuations were overstretched coursed through markets. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell by as much as 2.2 per cent.
Precious metals continued to suffer from the extreme volatility witnessed towards the end of the week. The spot price of gold, which already began falling sharply at the end of last week, cratered nine per cent to $4,403 an ounce in Asia trading. Silver slumped by as much 16 per cent to less than $72 an ounce after a 30 per cent crash on Friday.
Both metals pared back some of those losses as European markets opened. The silver price had all but erased its earlier fall, while gold staged a slightly less dramatic comeback.
Endeavour and Fresnillo sink, as Unilever and insurers rally
The whipsawing across the precious metals, which came off the back of both hitting a string of fresh records, was evident across the FTSE 100’s silver and gold miners. Fresnillo, a producer of gold and silver, plunged over seven per cent at market open, before recovering some of those losses. Shares in Endeavour and Antofagasta demonstrated a similar pattern.
“Not for the first time in recent market history, we’re witnessing a spectacular unwinding of leveraged positions, this time in precious metals,” said John Wyn-Evans, head of market analysis at Rathbones.
“The sharp pullback in gold looks more like a liquidity and positioning event than a change in the long‑term case for the asset. After a powerful run‑up driven by momentum strategies, short squeezes and leveraged buying, that same positioning has unwound rapidly, amplifying downside moves.”
Despite a risk-off mood prevailing, the FTSE 100’s defensive bias helped it escape the worst of the equities rout. The index’s largest insurers – including Aviva and Beazley – all posted gains of more than two per cent. Consumer goods giant Unilever – a traditional safe haven thanks to its consistent cash flow – climbed 2.3 per cent.
But tech companies largely missed out on the recovery in wider equity markets, after a flurry of earnings from artificial intelligence firms compounded fears that tech valuations may be overstretched. Futures on New York’s tech-heavy Nasdaq were down one per cent, with the index looking poised to extend a run of losses sparked by Microsoft trading update that showed growth in its cloud division was slowing.
“It’s typical of the 2026 constant stream of complicated news flow,” wrote Jim Reid, global head of macro research and thematic strategy at Deutsche Bank. “This follows a January that managed to both shock and awe in various ways, yet still delivered broad based gains across all global assets.”
