|
Blue chip stock prices in London were higher on Wednesday morning as fears around artificial intelligence soothed and shares in the US surged overnight. Among early corporate news, HSBC and Diageo bookended the FTSE 100. Nvidia reports after the closing bell in New York. The FTSE 100 index was up 83.17 points, 0.8%, at 10,763.76. The FTSE 250 added 89.30 points, 0.4%, at 23,590.34, and the AIM all-share edged up 0.20 of a point at 815.73. The Cboe UK 100 was up 0.8% at 1,072.74, the Cboe UK 250 rose 0.3% at 20,891.12, and the Cboe small companies added 0.1% at 18,394.03. The CAC 40 in Paris added 0.3% the DAX 40 in Frankfurt rose 0.2%. In Tokyo on Wednesday, the Nikkei 225 added 2.2%. In China, the Shanghai Composite rose 0.7%, while the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong was also up 0.7%. In Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 1.2%. In New York on Tuesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 added 0.8%, while the Nasdaq Composite added 1.0%. ‘There is a better tone to risk sentiment on Wednesday, as fears about AI ease, and news that UK household energy bills will fall by 7% boost the market mood,’ XTB analyst Kathleen Brooks commented. ‘The better mood on Wall Street came after Anthropic, who has released several AI plug ins that have caused major angst in recent weeks, announced a new AI plugin that will work with software providers to automate work in HR and investment banking. Tech and consumer discretionary stocks rallied on the back of this development, and there were some notable gains for software and service providers, which clawed back recent losses.’ Brooks continued: ‘Tech will remain in focus as we wait for Nvidia’s results later today. A monster set of results are expected, as the chip maker continues to benefit from massive capex spend by the hypercalers. Nvidia has been relatively unscathed by the ferocious sell off across some tech sectors in recent months, and they are expected to deliver monster revenues to the tune of $65.9bn for last quarter. Nvidia will release results after the US market closes tonight. The average move in the stock price after earnings reports is 4%, based on the last 8 quarterly releases. If Nvidia can deliver big results and strong forward guidance, then it may also help lift sentiment towards tech later today.’ Sterling fell to $1.3519 on Wednesday morning, from $1.3536 at the time of the London equities close on Tuesday. The euro rose to $1.1796 from $1.1787. Against the yen, the dollar rose to JP¥156.09 from JP¥155.71. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury widened to 4.05% on Wednesday morning from 4.04% at the time of the London equities close on Tuesday. The 30-year yield widened to 4.70% from 4.69%. Brent fell to $70.90 a barrel early Wednesday from $71.16 late Tuesday. Gold rose to $5,191.93 an ounce from $5,142.02. In London, HSBC was the best FTSE 100 performer, adding 5.5% on the back of a return on tangible equity guidance upgrade. ‘We are raising our ambition and targeting a 17% RoTE or better, excluding notable items, in each year from 2026 to 2028. We are also targeting year-on-year revenue growth over the same period on the same basis, rising to 5% in 2028,’ Chief Executive Officer Georges Elhedery said. It had previously expected a ‘mid-teens’ RoTE outcome. HSBC said annual profit declined, performance weighed down by rising costs and an impairment charge as management manoeuvres to simplify the business. The bank said pretax profit fell 7.4% to $29.91 billion in full-year 2025 from $32.31 billion in the previous year. Revenue grew 3.7% to $68.27 billion from $65.85 billion. Also on the up, insurer Hiscox added 3.2%. It reported annual earnings growth and announced a $300 million buyback. On the decline, brewer and distiller Diageo slumped 6.9% as it reduced annual guidance and lowered its dividend. It halved its first-half payout to 20 US cents per share from 40.50 cents a year prior. Diageo said it now expects a full-year organic net sales decline of 2% to 3%, ‘given further weakness in the US’. It had previously predicted an outcome between ‘ flat to slightly down’. Organic operating profit outcome is now expected to be between flat to growth low-single digits, lowered from the prior view of growth in the ‘low to mid-single-digit’ range. Elsewhere, ME Group plunged 17%. The operator of self-service laundry units, photobooths and printing kiosks has delayed results for the year to October 31 as its auditor ‘needs more time’. ‘The group is naturally displeased and disappointed with this and is working with Forvis Mazars to make sure that the audit is completed as soon as possible. As of today, the company has not been told of any material audit issues affecting the group’s consolidated financial statements,’ ME Group aded. ME Group expects total revenue between £311 million and £318 million at constant currency. Reported revenue was £307.9 million in financial 2024, £317.8 million at constant currency. Augmentum Fintech jumped 25% as it agreed to a £185.7 million takeover. It will be bought out by a new entity controlled by Verdane Fund Manager, a buyout investment firm. The investor, which focuses on European private fintech companies, will be bought out at 111.0 pence per share in cash. It is a 27% premium to its Tuesday closing price of 87.4p. Copyright 2026 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
|
