UK's FTSE 100 hovers near 10,000 mark as Venezuela strikes lift defence, mining stocks

Jan 5 (Reuters) - London's FTSE  100 hovered near the 10,000 mark on Monday, underpinned by gains in precious metal miners and defence stocks after U.S. military strikes in Venezuela sparked geopolitical concerns.

The blue-chip FTSE 100 .FTSE rose 0.1% to 9,969.45 points by 1130 GMT, having briefly topped the 10,000-point milestone for the first time last week. Meanwhile, the domestically focused mid-cap index .FTMC was flat.

The FTSE 100 index had also logged strong gains in 2025, outperforming Europe's STOXX 600 .STOXX and the United States' S&P 500 .SPX, primarily due to strong gains in commodity-linked sectors and expectations of more monetary policy easing by the Bank of England.

On Monday, global headlines were all about the United States' capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro over the weekend and investors will be keen on the outlook for the oil-rich country.

Safe-havens such as gold and silver surged, lifting an index tracking precious metal miners .FTNMX551030 by 4%. The index was among the top sectoral performers in 2025. GOL/

Geopolitical uncertainty also lifted aerospace and defence stocks .FTNMX502010 by 3.6%, with BAE Systems BAES.L and Babcock International BAB.L up 4.6% each, while Chemring CMG.L added 3.1%.

Oil prices were largely unfazed as ample global supplies offset concerns about the impact on oil flows. Energy stocks such as Shell SHEL.L and BP BP.L were marginally lower.

Among individual stocks, Ashmore ASHM.L jumped as much as 12.6% and hit a one-year high. The emerging markets fund manager holds Venezuelan debt that rallied following Maduro's capture.

Online auction operator Auction Technology ATG.L jumped 19.2% after it had rejected a total of 11 buyout proposals from top shareholder FitzWalter Capital as they highly undervalued the British online auction operator and its future prospects.

Bunzl BNZL.L fell 2.4% after brokerage Exane BNP Paribas downgraded the business supplies distributor to "neutral" from "outperform".