Nov 4 - Britain's FTSE 100 advanced on Wednesday as banks rallied ahead of an expected rate hike this week, while the weakening of the dollar following the Democrats' sweep of the US midterms lifted gold prices and shares of precious metal miners.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 index rose 1.18% to 10,764.49 points by 1121 GMT — on track for its biggest one-day percentage gain in about six weeks; the midcap FTSE 250 climbed 0.83% to a two-month high.
• Banking stocks, up 4.3% and set for their biggest one-day gain in nearly six months, were providing the biggest lift to the FTSE 100
• HSBC, Standard Chartered, NatWest Group, Lloyds Banking Group and Barclays rose between 3.6% and 4.8% each
• The rally came a day before the Bank of England's policy decision, with markets largely expecting a 25-basis-point hike in rates
• "Banks have massively underperformed this year... if you do have a rate hike, it obviously increases that net interest income, which can be a bonus; it would be supportive," said Fiona Cincotta, senior markets analyst at City Index
• Precious metal miners rose nearly 6.2%, set for their biggest one-day gain in nearly three months, tracking a 3% rise in gold prices [GOL/]
• The dollar slipped as Democrats' sweep of the US midterms elections raised concerns over the prospect of tighter AI regulation and its potential drag on economic growth [USD/]
• Lion Finance Group rose 7.5% after the banking and financial services group announced a 62 million Georgian lari ($24.2 million) share buyback, lifting the stock among the FTSE 100's top gainers
• Engineering firm Weir fell 7.7%, among the top FTSE 100 laggards, after flagging shorter-term headwinds from Middle East conflict and Chilean mine disruptions, despite maintaining its annual outlook
• Metro Bank jumped 13.9% to lead the midcap index after reaffirming all its targets, including return on tangible equity of more than 13% in 2026, over 15% in 2027 and above 18% in 2028
(Reporting by Darshan Kumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Joyjeet Das)