London open: Stocks rally after Nvidia beat

London stocks rallied in early trade on Thursday, taking their cue from an upbeat session on Wall Street after better-than-expected results from US chip designer Nvidia.

At 0830 BST, the FTSE 100 was up 0.8% at 7,377.92.

Sophie Lund-Yates, lead equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: "Despite a very high benchmark, Nvidia has beaten Wall Street’s expectations. The artificial intelligence boom is continuing to catapult demand for the tech company’s complex chips into the stratosphere, with sales of $16bn expected in the three months to October. That is streets away from analyst expectations and reflects the seemingly insatiable appetite for Nvidia’s products, which are the leading option for creating AI tools like ChatGPT.

"Nvidia’s H100 chip, where demand is far outpacing supply, is currently selling for double its original price in the tens of thousands. Being an early beneficiary of a megatrend like AI is an enviable and rare opportunity, but bears will be arguing that at some point the valuation will start to appear full. Luckily for Nvidia, a cursory glance would suggest there aren’t many bears around.

"Nvidia smashing the forecast ceiling has also lifted the mood elsewhere. The FTSE 100 is off to a bright start where there’s little big-hitting domestic news to sway the atmosphere."

Investors were also eyeing the release of US initial jobless claims at 1330 BST, and the start of the Jackson Hole symposium in Wyoming, in particular a speech by US Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell.

In equity markets, Liontrust Asset Management surged to the top of the FTSE 250 as it emerged its takeover bid for GAM has failed, as the asset manager was unable to win enough backing from its shareholders.

Intertek gained after saying it had bought US-based PlayerLync Holdings for an undisclosed sum.

On the downside, Harbour Energy was weaker after the North Sea oil and gas producer trimmed annual production and capital expenditure forecasts due to drilling delays at its Beryl operations. It also posted a drop in half-year pre-tax profit to $429m from $1.49bn a year earlier, due to higher taxes after the government imposed a windfall levy on energy companies.

Recruiter Hays also lost ground as it lifted its full-year dividend and announced a special payout to shareholders, but gave a gloomy outlook and reported a drop in annual profits.

Aviva, Legal & General, Hammerson, Ibstock, St James’s Place, Auto Trader, Shaftesbury and OSB all fell as they traded without entitlement to the dividend.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,377.92 0.78%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 18,383.78 0.86%
techMARK (TASX) 4,269.82 0.86%

FTSE 100 - Risers

JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 136.50p 2.52%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 206.50p 2.33%
Airtel Africa (AAF) 111.10p 2.21%
Flutter Entertainment (CDI) (FLTR) 14,280.00p 2.00%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 752.00p 1.95%
Barclays (BARC) 145.80p 1.93%
Croda International (CRDA) 5,404.00p 1.92%
Frasers Group (FRAS) 799.50p 1.91%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 113.30p 1.84%
SEGRO (SGRO) 739.20p 1.79%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Aviva (AV.) 374.50p -1.60%
Legal & General Group (LGEN) 217.50p -1.14%
Mondi (MNDI) 1,268.00p -0.94%
St James's Place (STJ) 865.80p -0.82%
Glencore (GLEN) 430.75p -0.55%
Anglo American (AAL) 2,049.50p -0.15%
Auto Trader Group (AUTO) 598.20p -0.10%
Haleon (HLN) 325.50p -0.06%
BP (BP.) 471.05p -0.02%
Admiral Group (ADM) 2,392.00p 0.13%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Liontrust Asset Management (LIO) 662.00p 9.78%
British Land Company (BLND) 327.90p 3.47%
UK Commercial Property Reit Limited (UKCM) 53.00p 2.91%
Future (FUTR) 757.00p 2.71%
Molten Ventures (GROW) 239.20p 2.57%
Keller Group (KLR) 770.00p 2.53%
Intermediate Capital Group (ICP) 1,310.50p 2.46%
Great Portland Estates (GPE) 418.20p 2.40%
Darktrace (DARK) 347.30p 2.36%
Vistry Group (VTY) 742.00p 2.34%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Shaftesbury Capital (SHC) 116.10p -3.41%
Ithaca Energy (ITH) 150.40p -2.97%
Harbour Energy (HBR) 236.10p -2.32%
Henderson Smaller Companies Inv Trust (HSL) 704.00p -1.95%
Ibstock (IBST) 146.80p -1.81%
OSB Group (OSB) 355.00p -1.77%
Hays (HAS) 102.10p -1.16%
Hammerson (HMSO) 25.16p -0.63%
Marshalls (MSLH) 264.40p -0.53%
Bodycote (BOY) 641.50p -0.47%