London, Feb 25, 2026, 09:19 GMT — Regular session
- Anglo American rose about 3% in early London trade, tracking strength in industrial metal miners.
- Copper’s pull on miner earnings is back in focus after a recent run-up in prices.
- Traders are watching copper prices and upcoming dividend dates.
Anglo American shares rose about 3% on Wednesday, lifting with the broader mining sector as investors leaned back into copper-exposed names. (Investing)
The move matters now because copper has become the market’s shorthand for “growth with scarcity,” and miners with bigger copper footprints tend to get rerated fast when the price swings. Anglo is in that bucket, and the stock has been trading like a copper proxy on days when the metal steadies.
It also lands in a market that is still jumpy about trade policy and risk appetite. “Investors remained fragile,” Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote Bank, said on Tuesday, as tariff uncertainty hung over London trading even with miners firm. (London South East)
Copper has cooled from January’s peaks but remains well above last year’s levels. London copper futures closed at $12,868.50 a metric ton on Monday, about 11% below the all-time high hit on Jan. 29, Reuters columnist Clyde Russell wrote, noting a long rally driven by U.S. stockpiling and supply disruptions. (Reuters)
That backdrop has reshaped the big miners’ profit mix. BHP and Rio Tinto have flagged copper’s growing contribution in recent results, while dealmaking for copper assets has repeatedly run into valuation fights, the column said, pointing to BHP’s past approaches for Anglo and Anglo’s tie-up plan with Teck Resources. (Reuters)
Anglo’s own shares have tended to follow that same logic: more copper exposure is treated as a higher-multiple story, even when the rest of the portfolio looks messy.
Still, the trade can go wrong quickly. Copper prices can slip on signs of weaker physical demand, and iron ore has been under pressure as Chinese steel output slows and new supply looms, another drag on diversified miners’ earnings mix.
There is also execution risk. Any delay to planned portfolio moves or deal approvals could leave the stock priced for a cleaner, copper-heavier company before it actually gets there.
In the near term, traders will watch whether copper holds its recent bounce and whether London’s miners keep attracting flows on tariff headlines.
On the calendar, income investors have a date to pin down: Anglo’s final dividend is due to go ex-dividend on March 12, with payment scheduled for May 6, according to market data shown by Hargreaves Lansdown. (Hl)
