London’s stock market was expected to edge higher after Wall Street clawed back some of the losses in Monday’s DeepSeek-inspired rout.

Traders will turn their attention to tonight’s meeting of the Federal Reserve where it will update on interest rate policy. Markets are expecting no change with only a 45% of a single rate cut by the June meeting, according to the CME FedWatch tool.

The market is expecting less than two rate cuts from the Fed this year, with interest rate expectations for 2025 mostly unchanged since the start of 2025.

The FTSE 100 closed 30.16 points higher at 8,533.87.

Stationery and travel business WH Smith has today reported a 4% jump in group revenue for the 21 weeks to 25 January as it hailed strong momentum in the travel business, but posted a drop in high street sales.

Chief executive Carl Cowling said: “The group has had a good start to the financial year, and we continue to see strong momentum across our core travel business.

“Our UK travel business has delivered another excellent performance across all channels, as we continue to make good progress with the rollout of our one-stop-shop for travel essentials format.”

The company has confirmed that it is in talks to sell its high street business.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has launched a probe into ScottishPower owner’s £2.1 billion deal to buy North West Electricity Networks.

It will decide by 27 March whether to refer the acquisition for an in-depth investigation. Interested parties have until February 12 to submit their comments.

ScottishPower’s Spanish parent firm, Iberdrola, announced the deal in August.

The Glasgow-based subsidiary will overtake SSE as the second largest distribution network operator in the UK behind National Grid, serving about 12 million people – just under six million homes – across southern Scotland, northern England and parts of Wales.