Copper Surge Drives Antofagasta to Top of FTSE 100 Gainers

Antofagasta, a copper-focused miner listed on the FTSE 100, surged to the top of the index's gainers in its last session before the summer bank holiday. This move was largely driven by a record-breaking price for copper, which had already reached a fresh high earlier in the week.

The company's revenue mix is heavily weighted towards copper, making it highly sensitive to movements in the metal's price. As traders repriced their expectations of Antofagasta's future performance based on this new commodity price, the shares responded positively.

A broader metals complex saw silver outperforming gold, which itself was near record levels, and pulling precious-metals names higher alongside base-metals. This broad-based move in metals prices had a significant impact on the mining sector as a whole, with Antofagasta benefiting from its exposure to copper.

The combination of strong UK private sector data and a surge in metals prices helped drive the FTSE 100's weekly advance, with miners and gold being the key drivers. The index rose across the week, while the mid-cap index slipped, and the AIM All-Share was the standout gainer.