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London stocks closed lower on Thursday, as stocks trading ex-dividend weighed on potential gains and investor appetite. The FTSE 100 index closed down 38.68 points, 0.4%, at 9,216.82. The FTSE 250 ended 60.63 points lower, 0.3%, at 21,744.40 and the AIM All-Share finished down 1.16 points, 0.2%, at 761.21. The Cboe UK 100 ended down 0.3% at 925.39, the Cboe UK 250 was 0.2% lower at 19,080.40 but the Cboe Small Companies climbed 0.5% to 17,301.53. On the FTSE 100, insurer Aviva topped the fallers, 3.1% lower as it traded ex-dividend, while LondonMetric Property, down 2.0% and Auto Trader, down 1.6%, also lost ground as they traded without entitlement to their payouts. Among the risers, sports retailer JD Sports Fashion, up a further 2.8%, building on Wednesday’s gains which followed a well received trading update. Berenberg raised its share price target to 155 pence from 128p. ‘We believe that the 8.5x PE valuation fails to reflect the company’s potential for moderate growth, margin recovery and strong free cash flow,’ the broker said in a research note. In New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.3%, the S&P 500 was 0.1% lower, while the Nasdaq Composite was up 0.1%. Nvidia was down 1.1% in New York at the time of the London close as concerns over China took some of the gloss off strong results and guidance. The chip maker has not included any sales from China in its guidance as it grapples with the fall-out from its trade war with the US. Chief Executive Jensen Huang said Nvidia is talking to the Trump administration about the ‘importance of American companies to be able to address the Chinese market’. Vivek Arya at Bank of America raised his share price target for Nvidia to $235 from $220. ‘We reiterate buy on top sector pick Nvidia as we believe it remains solidly positioned to maintain its 80% [plus] share in the fastest growing and most attractive global AI infrastructure build out, along with industry leading 45% [plus] free cash flow margins,’ he wrote. Data showed the US economy grew at a stronger pace than expected in the second quarter of the year. According to the latest reading from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the US economy rose 3.3% quarter-on-quarter on an annualised basis in the three months to June, upwardly revised from the first estimate which showed 3.0% growth. The first quarter saw the US economy shrink 0.5%. The annualised calculation shows how much the economy would expand if that quarterly pace of growth continued for a whole year, according to the BEA. Friday sees the release of the monthly personal consumption expenditures inflationary gauge. An acceleration in the annual growth rate of core PCE prices to 2.9% is expected for July, from 2.8% in June, according to consensus cited by FactSet. The yield on the US 10-year Treasury was at 4.22%, trimmed from 4.26% on Wednesday. The yield on the US 30-year Treasury was 4.89%, narrowed from 4.91%. The pound climbed to $1.3513 late on Thursday afternoon in London, compared to $1.3469 at the equities close on Wednesday. The euro rose to $1.1668, against $1.1606. Against the yen, the dollar was trading lower at JP¥147.02, compared to JP¥147.73. In Europe, the CAC 40 in Paris ended up 0.2%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt closed little changed. Back in London, Drax fell 7.5% as it said the UK’s financial regulator had started a probe over the UK energy company’s sourcing for biomass pellets. The Yorkshire, England-based power generator said it was notified on Tuesday that the Financial Conduct Authority has commenced an investigation into the company covering the period January 2022 to March 2024. In a brief statement, Drax said the probe relates to certain historical statements regarding biomass sourcing and the compliance of Drax’s 2021, 2022 and 2023 annual reports with the listing rules and disclosure guidance and transparency rules. Drax said it will cooperate with the FCA as part of their investigation. In August 2024, Drax paid £25 million after industry regulator Ofgem found there was an absence of adequate data governance and controls in place that had contributed to the firm misreporting data in relation to the period April 2021 to March 2022. Elsewhere, Hunting fell 2.9% as it reported increased revenue but lower profit in the first half of 2025 against a ‘volatile’ market backdrop. Looking ahead, Hunting said oil and gas demand has remained ‘steady and is likely to remain at a consistent level in the medium to long term’. But in the near term, the geopolitical and macro-economic outlook remains ‘choppy’, it added. PPHE Hotel shares sank 16% as the hotelier lowered full-year earnings guidance, alongside half year results. The Amsterdam-based operator of Park Plaza and Art’otel hotels, among other brands, expects its full-year earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation to be ‘similar’ to that of 2024. Half-year Ebitda was down 5.7% to £45.5 million from £48.3 million. PPHE reported Ebitda of £136.5 million in 2024. At the time of the publication of its 2024 results in February, PPHE said it expected Ebitda to rise in 2025, while the analyst consensus was for Ebitda to increase to between £147.3 million and £158.6 million. Softcat fared better, rising 3.8%, as it said it expects to report high-teens growth in gross profit in the financial year ended July 31, and mid-teens growth in operating profit. Further, it expects financial 2025 cash conversion towards the top end of its guided range of 85% to 95%, similar to 95.9% in financial 2024. A barrel of Brent traded at $67.51 late Thursday afternoon, down slightly from $67.55 on Wednesday. Gold pushed higher to $3,407.04 an ounce against $3,387.91 on Wednesday. The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 were Anglo American, up 64.00 pence at 2,265.00p, JD Sports Fashion, up 2.74p at 100.10p, Weir, up 42.00p at 2,496.00p, Rio Tinto, up 67.00p at 4,637.00p and DCC, up 56.00p at 4,696.00p. The biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 were Aviva, down 21.00p at 656.20p, Land Securities, down 12.50p at 559.00p, Endeavour Mining, down 52.00p at 2,492.00p, Relx, down 70.00p at 2,492.00p and LondonMetric Property, down 3.70p at 186.40p. There are no major events scheduled in Friday’s local corporate calendar. The global economic calendar on Friday has US personal consumption expenditures data, Canadian GDP numbers, German retail sales figures and CPI prints in France and Germany. Copyright 2025 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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