The FTSE 100 ended slightly lower on Wednesday on a mixed day for European shares ahead of results from Nvidia after the New York market close.
“The future direction of markets will be determined by Nvidia’s results tonight. A lot is riding on these figures given how the chip company is such a dominant name in the US stock market and a popular investor holding globally,” said Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell.
The FTSE 100 index closed down 10.30 points, 0.1%, at 9,255.50. The FTSE 250 ended 56.20 points lower, 0.3%, at 21,805.03 while the AIM All-Share finished down 2.74 points, 0.4%, at 762.37.
In New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.3%, the S&P 500 was 0.2% higher, as was the Nasdaq Composite.
Nvidia was hovering around opening levels ahead of second quarter earnings, remaining close to all-time highs.
The AI chip manufacturer is expected to report revenue of 46.05 billion dollars in the quarter, with earnings per share of 1.01 dollars according to FactSet consensus.
DataCentre revenue is forecast at 41.43 billion dollars.
Looking to the third quarter, FactSet consensus points to revenue of 53.43 billion dollars, non-GAAP EPS of 1.18 dollars, and DataCentre revenue of 49.30 billion dollars.
Joshua Mahoney, analyst at Rostro, noted the “incredible rise” of Nvidia has taken the company from a one trillion dollar valuation to over four trillion dollar market cap in just two years.
“Whilst markets are constantly second guessing when this gravy train will come to a halt, the persistent ability to beat market earnings expectations has helped drive the stock on its upward trajectory.”
The yield on the US 10-year Treasury was at 4.26%, trimmed from 4.28% on Tuesday.
The yield on the US 30-year Treasury was 4.91%, narrowed from 4.93%.
The pound ebbed to 1.3469 dollars late on Wednesday afternoon in London, compared to 1.3483 dollars at the equities close on Tuesday.
The euro fell to 1.1606 dollars, against 1.1656 dollars. Against the yen, the dollar was trading higher at 147.73 yen, compared with 147.37 yen.
In Europe, the mood was mixed amid ongoing political uncertainty in France.
The CAC 40 in Paris ended up 0.4%, recouping some of Tuesday’s falls, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt closed 0.4% lower.
Analysts at Wells Fargo offered some reassurance.
“While clearly problematic for the French economic outlook, from a longer-term perspective we believe France’s fiscal uncertainties will have limited impact on the broader eurozone economy and the euro,” the broker said.
“France’s fiscal challenges appear to be relatively isolated, as opposed to being more broadly shared across the region.”
On the FTSE 100, JD Sports rose 3.6% as it announced a new £100 million share buyback alongside in-line, if sluggish, trading.
The Manchester-based sports apparel seller said sales fell 3.0% to £3.11 billion on a like-for-like basis in the 13 weeks that ended August 2 – the company’s financial second quarter – but increased 2.2% on an organic basis.
The decline in LFL sales was in line with Visible Alpha consensus, while the increase in organic sales was ahead of 1.8% VA consensus.
Chief executive Regis Schultz said in general “we see a resilient consumer, albeit very selective on their purchases. We therefore remain cautious on the trading environment going into H2”.
Haleon advanced 1.3% as Citi said the consumer goods firm, which owns Panadol painkillers and Sensodyne toothpaste, was its top sector pick.
Prudential failed to entice investors, falling 1.7%, despite promising first half results, with its cash generation beating expectations with hopes for chunkier returns to come.
The Hong Kong-based insurance and asset management company said attributable net profit multiplied to 1.28 billion dollars in the six months to June 30 from 120 million dollars a year earlier.
New business profit rose 12% to 1.26 billion dollars from 1.12 billion dollars a year prior. Pretax profit jumped to 1.70 billion dollars from 394 million dollars.
Prudential announced 1.1 billion dollars of buybacks, 500 million dollars in 2026 and 600 million dollars a year later.
Over the 2024-2027 period, it expects to have returned over five billion dollars to investors.
Prudential raised its interim dividend by 13% to 7.71 cents per share from 6.84 cents.
But Philip Kett at Jefferies said the implied payout of consensus net free surplus at 50%, is “lower than we expect some investors were looking for, as higher buybacks are offset by slower dividend growth”.
On the FTSE 250, gold and silver miner Hochschild Mining dropped 12% as it lowered its production guidance for all of 2025, due to sharply lower output from a mine in Brazil.
Hochschild lowered its 2025 group production guidance to between 291,000 and 319,000 gold equivalent ounces from between 350,000 and 378,000 ounces.
This reflects a lower production forecast for Mara Rosa in the Goias state in central Brazil, cut to 35,000 to 45,000 ounces, against prior guidance of 94,000 to 104,000 ounces.
The cut in guidance is due to an operational review and temporary suspension of the processing plant at the mine, which has since restarted.
On AIM, online retailer boohoo rose 7.3% as founder Carol Kane picked up around £1 million worth of shares.
On Tuesday, the online retailer said it planned to sell youth brand PrettyLittleThing, as it reported a widened annual loss.
Tracsis was also in favour, up 4.2%, as it announced a new £35 million revolving credit facility and said trading for its latest financial year was in line with expectations.
The Leeds-based provider of software technology for the transport sector, expects around £82.0 million in group revenue for the year ended July 31, up from £81.0 million the year before.
A barrel of Brent traded at 67.55 dollars late on Wednesday afternoon, up from 67.46 dollars on Tuesday.
Gold edged higher to 3,387.91 dollars an ounce against 3,382.89 dollars on Tuesday.
The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 were JD Sports Fashion, up 3.34p at 97.36p, Airtel Africa, up 6.6 pence at 223.2p, Entain, up 16.0p at 885.4p, Whitbread, up 54.0p at 3,192.0p and Beazley, up 10.5p at 791.0p.
The biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 were easyJet, down 15.8p at 490.2p, NatWest, down 14.2p at 544.4p, IAG, down 8.0p at 384.6p, J Sainsbury, down 6.2 pence at 299.6p, and Howden Joinery, down 15.5p at 852.0p.
The local corporate calendar on Thursday has half year results from precision engineering group Hunting and packaging firm Macfarlane.
The global economic calendar on Thursday has second quarter US GDP figures and quarterly PCE data, US weekly initial jobless claims figures and a eurozone consumer confidence print.
– Contributed by Alliance News
