London midday: Stocks turn lower; Nvidia, UK inflation eyed

London stocks had fallen into the red by midday on Tuesday as investors eyed the latest UK inflation reading and results from US tech giant Nvidia, and as caution set in after Russia changed its nuclear doctrine.

The FTSE 100 was 0.4% lower at 8,074.19.

Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG, said: "News of Ukraine utilising its new ability to hit Russia with US missiles has prompted a sharp turn lower for stocks, while the dollar and gold have both risen on safe haven buying."

"The news comes as Putin has once more changed the threshold for Russian nuclear use. While likely more sabre rattling from the Kremlin, it does take the world closer to a terrifying miscalculation. Gains in indices have been wiped out, and investors are once again turning cautious on fears of further escalation."

On the macro front and ahead of the UK inflation print on Wednesday, market participants mulled the latest figures from Eurostat. They showed that eurozone inflation rebounded sharply as expected in October, rising from a three-year low and back in line with the European Central Bank's target.

The annual change in consumer prices was 2.0% last month, with the rate of inflation jumping from 1.7% in September - its lowest level since April 2021. This was in line with the consensus forecast.

In equity markets, Diploma slumped even as it reported a 14% rise in revenue in its preliminary results to £1.36bn, as adjusted operating profit increased 20% to £285m.

IAG was under the cosh after British Airways was hit by another IT failure.

Informa fell even as it reaffirmed its recently upgraded full-year guidance and said strong forward bookings were providing momentum into 2025.

On the upside, DCC was the top gainer on the FTSE 100 after The Telegraph said in its stock-picking column Questor that it was time to be less bearish on the sales, marketing and support services group.

Imperial Brands shot up after it posted a 4.5% rise in full-year adjusted operating profit as revenues from new products such as vapes and nicotine pouches surged by more than a quarter.

BT Group was also higher after Bharti Global completed the acquisition of a 24.5% stake in the company from France’s Altice.

Vesuvius was on the front foot as it said trading profit for the 2024 financial year was set to be slightly below 2023 levels on a constant currency basis, maintaining a return on sales margin of around 10.2%.

Bodycote gained as it said full-year operating profit was set to be in line with market expectations as it hailed a "resilient performance in challenging end markets".

Marshalls also rose as the landscaping and building supplier unveiled a new strategy targeting an operating margin of 15% and outperformance of the wider construction market by 2% to 4%.

In broker note action, Sainsbury’s and Tesco were initiated at ‘outperform’ and ‘sector perform’, respectively, by RBC Capital Markets, while United Utilities was upgraded to ‘outperform’ by BNPP Exane.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 8,074.19 -0.43%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 20,333.94 -0.30%
techMARK (TASX) 4,600.05 -0.05%

FTSE 100 - Risers

DCC (CDI) (DCC) 5,740.00p 2.59%
Imperial Brands (IMB) 2,450.00p 2.04%
BT Group (BT.A) 147.20p 1.69%
BAE Systems (BA.) 1,315.00p 1.47%
Fresnillo (FRES) 669.00p 1.36%
British Land Company (BLND) 377.60p 1.12%
United Utilities Group (UU.) 1,101.50p 0.87%
Smurfit Westrock (DI) (SWR) 4,184.00p 0.84%
National Grid (NG.) 983.40p 0.80%
AstraZeneca (AZN) 9,987.00p 0.73%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Diploma (DPLM) 4,212.00p -7.14%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 237.60p -2.86%
Melrose Industries (MRO) 512.00p -2.77%
Informa (INF) 834.80p -2.39%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 527.00p -2.26%
Barclays (BARC) 256.40p -1.71%
Entain (ENT) 742.40p -1.67%
Weir Group (WEIR) 2,130.00p -1.66%
Whitbread (WTB) 2,870.00p -1.58%
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 55.36p -1.56%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Vesuvius (VSVS) 396.00p 7.17%
Bodycote (BOY) 606.00p 5.39%
Petershill Partners (PHLL) 248.00p 2.90%
Marshalls (MSLH) 333.50p 2.77%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 222.00p 2.54%
Greencoat UK Wind (UKW) 126.60p 2.18%
Wood Group (John) (WG.) 53.80p 1.99%
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 148.60p 1.99%
The Renewables Infrastructure Group Limited (TRIG) 91.10p 1.79%
Just Group (JUST) 139.60p 1.75%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Burberry Group (BRBY) 855.20p -5.52%
Big Yellow Group (BYG) 1,102.00p -4.51%
W.A.G Payment Solutions (WPS) 82.60p -3.95%
Wizz Air Holdings (WIZZ) 1,310.00p -3.61%
Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings (AML) 106.30p -3.45%
Tate & Lyle (TATE) 726.50p -2.09%
Close Brothers Group (CBG) 202.40p -1.94%
Bridgepoint Group (Reg S) (BPT) 323.40p -1.76%
Helios Towers (HTWS) 102.60p -1.72%
Oxford Instruments (OXIG) 2,035.00p -1.69%