London open: Stocks muted after Wall Street tech selloff

London stocks were little changed in early trade on Tuesday following a tech selloff on Wall Street.

At 0830 BST, the FTSE 100 was flat at 7,481.28.

On Monday, tech stocks in the US slid after Nvidia issued a profit warning.

Oanda market analyst Craig Erlam said: "We may have reached a point in which investors need to decide whether they truly buy into the recovery/no recession narrative or not. That is what appears to have fuelled the recovery we've seen in equity markets despite the fact that inflation hasn't even started falling, central banks are still hiking aggressively and recession is on the horizon for many.

"It's time to decide whether this is just a substantial bear market rally or a genuine view that the economic outlook is far less downbeat than many fear. If equity markets are going to push on from here, it must be based on the latter which I'm sure many would welcome but perhaps more through hope than expectation."

He said the US inflation data on Wednesday could effectively set the mood for the rest of the summer. "That seems quite dramatic but if we fail to see a drop in the headline rate, considering the acceleration we're expected to see in the core, it could really take the wind out of the sails of stock markets as it would be very difficult for the Fed to then hike by anything less than 75 basis points in September."

In equity markets, asset manager Abrdn slumped after it posted a drop in first-half profit and revenue and struck a cautious note on the outlook. Adjusted pre-tax profit fell to £99m from £163m in the same period a year ago, while adjusted operating profit slid 28% to £115m and fee-based revenues were down 8% to £696m. Abrdn said this was driven by market movements.

On an IFRS basis, the company swung to a pre-tax loss of £320m from a profit of £113m.

Legal & General nudged lower even as the insurer reported a rise in interim operating profits, driven by higher interest rates and a strong annuity portfolio performance.

Workspace provider IWG tumbled despite saying that its first-half losses had narrowed amid strong demand for hybrid working.

InterContinental Hotels was also in the red even as it posted a jump in half-year profits and revenue and hailed increased demand for travel in most of its markets.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,481.28 -0.01%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 20,129.26 0.05%
techMARK (TASX) 4,364.85 0.02%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 969.40p 2.11%
Unite Group (UTG) 1,147.00p 0.97%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 899.80p 0.96%
Land Securities Group (LAND) 716.20p 0.76%
Endeavour Mining (EDV) 1,766.00p 0.74%
Admiral Group (ADM) 1,998.50p 0.73%
Airtel Africa (AAF) 153.20p 0.72%
Relx plc (REL) 2,415.00p 0.71%
SEGRO (SGRO) 1,069.50p 0.71%
Rightmove (RMV) 658.60p 0.67%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Abrdn (ABDN) 164.60p -4.83%
Anglo American (AAL) 2,923.50p -0.86%
Vodafone Group (VOD) 120.08p -0.78%
BT Group (BT.A) 158.30p -0.57%
GSK (GSK) 1,650.20p -0.55%
Glencore (GLEN) 463.10p -0.48%
M&G (MNG) 215.90p -0.37%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 486.00p -0.37%
Mondi (MNDI) 1,510.50p -0.36%
Shell (SHEL) 2,154.00p -0.35%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Pagegroup (PAGE) 433.00p 3.34%
Biffa (BIFF) 408.20p 2.72%
Watches of Switzerland Group (WOSG) 880.00p 2.50%
Ruffer Investment Company Ltd Red PTG Pref Shares (RICA) 307.00p 2.33%
Kainos Group (KNOS) 1,416.00p 2.16%
Capricorn Energy (CNE) 224.00p 1.82%
Dunelm Group (DNLM) 858.00p 1.78%
Allianz Technology Trust (ATT) 257.50p 1.58%
QinetiQ Group (QQ.) 386.80p 1.58%
Workspace Group (WKP) 590.00p 1.55%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

IWG (IWG) 167.60p -13.16%
Clarkson (CKN) 3,365.00p -2.18%
Vesuvius (VSVS) 336.60p -1.87%
Shaftesbury (SHB) 482.20p -1.59%
Darktrace (DARK) 373.70p -1.58%
JPMorgan American Inv Trust (JAM) 757.00p -1.56%
JTC (JTC) 737.00p -1.34%
Weir Group (WEIR) 1,657.50p -1.31%
Bank of Georgia Group (BGEO) 1,662.00p -1.31%
Jupiter Fund Management (JUP) 127.90p -1.16%