London, March 19, 2026, 14:00 GMT
Anglo American dropped close to 8% on Thursday, with miners broadly under pressure as metals lost ground and traders readied for higher rates sticking around. According to Reuters/LSEG data, shares landed at 2,860 pence, down 7.68%, after touching a low of 2,838 pence.
Anglo faces this latest hurdle just as it’s juggling a lot: the London-listed miner is pushing ahead with its $53 billion all-share deal for Teck Resources, seeking buyers for De Beers, and doubling down on copper. All this, while growth-sensitive names get tossed around by an oil shock and stronger dollar.
It was a rough session across the board. London’s FTSE 100 slid 1.9% by 1020 GMT, according to Reuters, with metals and mining names hammered—sector down 7.2%. Anglo, Antofagasta, and Rio Tinto featured prominently among the steepest decliners in earlier index coverage.
Commodity prices took a hit. According to Reuters, copper slid to a three-month low, gold tumbled more than 5%—all as oil prices jumped, the dollar gained ground, and traders pulled back on rate-cut bets amid fresh inflation jitters. The Bank of England, holding rates steady at 3.75%, flagged that inflation could climb to 3.5% over the next two quarters.
Some movement on the deal front: On Wednesday, Anglo’s Brazil CEO Ana Sanches said the company is eyeing final regulatory approval for the Teck transaction by year-end. That lines up with Chief Executive Duncan Wanblad’s comments from February, when he said China and South Korea would likely give the green light between September and March.
The potential Teck deal would vault the combined company into the No. 5 spot among global copper producers, pushing annual output past 1.2 million metric tons. That kind of scale keeps Anglo firmly in the M&A spotlight, even after BHP backed off. BHP’s new CEO, Brandon Craig, signaled a shift, saying the firm would “put its head down” on internal growth and that any future bids would need a strong case. Reuters
Anglo’s situation is far from tidy. Back in February, the miner posted a $3.7 billion loss tied to another De Beers writedown, slashed its dividend, and confirmed that it’s still moving ahead with plans to either sell or spin off De Beers, steelmaking coal, and nickel operations. The company is shifting attention to copper and iron ore.
Last month, the company trimmed its 2026 copper outlook to 700,000-760,000 tons, down from the previous range of 760,000-820,000 tons, after production fell at Collahuasi in Chile. At the time, Wanblad said, “We are committed to seeing our portfolio transformation through to its conclusion.” Reuters
At this point, macro worries seem to be outweighing deal rationale. “We’re not sure there’s enough money and confidence right now to drag markets upward,” Morningstar’s chief European equity strategist Michael Field told Reuters. The tone matched a session where buyers mostly hung back after selling hit economy-sensitive names. Reuters
There’s risk in the opposite direction as well. Should approvals from China or South Korea get delayed, copper prices remain under pressure, or a sale of De Beers bogs down, Anglo’s turnaround pitch might stall. In that case, the shares could just move with the broader sector instead of reflecting the copper-focused narrative management is pushing.
