London midcaps climb to 3-year high on Trump pivot, Ukraine deal hopes

Thu, 22nd Jan 2026 17:32

Jan 22 (Reuters) -

UK shares closed higher on Thursday after U.S. ‍President Donald Trump softened his stance on Greenland, while optimism surrounding a potential Ukraine peace deal further ‍lifted sentiment.

The domestically-focussed midcap FTSE 250 was up 1.3%, snapping back to a three-year high ⁠after escalating geopolitical concerns pressured the index earlier this week. UK's blue-chip FTSE 100 closed up 0.1%.

Media stocks rose 1.9%, helped by a 5.8% rise in Future after the publishing firm announced that it would acquire Sheerluxe.

Shares of Ukraine-exposed companies

jumped

with airline Wizz Air climbing 9% and miner Ferrexpo up 13.3% after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Ukrainian and Russian teams will have their first trilateral meeting with U.S. officials.

The earnings season continued to ‍gather momentum. Computacenter shares were up 10% after the technology firm provided an upbeat profit ‌forecast.

Senior climbed 8.7% after the engineering firm raised its annual profit forecast for the second time in two months, while ‌AJ Bell rose 3.7% after the investment platform reported a 27.7% rise in first-quarter gross inflows for its platform business.

Heavyweight energy shares were down as crude oil prices fell.

Shares ‌of precious metal miners also offered support to the UK indexes as

gold prices climbed

on safe-haven demand.

Diplomats said EU leaders will

rethink ties

with the U.S. at an emergency summit on Thursday after Donald Trump's threat of tariffs and even military action to acquire Greenland badly shook confidence in the ⁠transatlantic relationship and rattled global markets this week. Trump on Wednesday ‍stepped back from imposing tariffs on U.S.-bound exports from eight European countries and ruled out using force to take Greenland, a semi-autonomous territory of NATO ally Denmark, causing global markets to ⁠rally.

Meanwhile domestic data showed Britain's government borrowed less than expected in December, something that may give Finance Minister Rachel Reeves reasons for optimism in 2026. (Reporting by Tharuniyaa Lakshmi in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar and Andrew Heavens)