London open: FTSE dips amid raft of corporate releases

(Sharecast News) - London stocks dipped in early trade on Thursday following strong gains in the previous session, as investors mulled the latest results from US chip giant Nvidia and waded through a raft of UK corporate releases.

At 0835 BST, the FTSE 100 was down 0.4% at 10,393.02, while Brent crude was 1.3% higher at $106.35 a barrel, having tumbled on Wednesday after Donald Trump told reporters at the White House that the US was in the "final stages" of talks with Iran, while also threatening once again to attack Tehran if a deal is not reached.

Investors were mulling an afterhours decline in Nvidia shares despite a solid set of first-quarter results.

Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote, said: "The beat goes on at Nvidia. For the 14th straight quarter - if I'm not mistaken - the company crushed expectations again. Revenue came in above $81bn, up 20% from the previous quarter and an impressive 85% from a year ago. Gross margins held near a stunning 75%, right in line with expectations, and the company also announced $80bn in stock buybacks.

"Yet somehow, it still wasn't enough. The stock swung 2-3% in both directions in after-hours trading before settling around 1% lower.

"Some blamed the May-to-July outlook for not being strong enough. Others pointed to confusion around Nvidia's new reporting structure. But honestly, this looked more like simple profit-taking after an enormous rally than lack of conviction."

On the UK corporate front, there was deluge of releases for investors to sink their teeth into.

AJ Bell shot higher as the investment platform lifted its full-year outlook, hailing an "excellent" first-half performance with record customer growth.

Qinetiq was also sharply higher after it reported a record full-year order intake, hiked its dividend by 24% and announced a £200m share buyback extension.

EasyJet nudged up as the budget airline posted a widening of its first-half losses, in line with the guidance given in April, as it said its performance so far in the second half has been hit by higher fuel costs due to the Middle East conflict, and lower forward visibility.

On the downside, Convatec tumbled despite saying it had enjoyed a good start to the year and that it was on track to deliver its guidance for 2026.

Telecoms giant BT Group was weaker as it reported flat full-year adjusted earnings as service revenue fell 1% on the back of lower business and consumer voice volumes.

Smiths Group lost ground after it cut full-year guidance as the conflict in the Middle East weighed on trading.

Mitchells & Butlers also slid after half-year results, while Shell fell as it traded without entitlement to the dividend, along with Whitbread and Bunzl.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 10,393.02 -0.38%

FTSE 250 (MCX) 22,848.27 0.04%

techMARK (TASX) 5,948.53 0.14%

FTSE 100 - Risers

IG Group Holdings (IGG) 1,851.00p 2.49%

ICG (ICG) 1,806.00p 2.18%

3i Group (III) 2,208.00p 1.74%

Scottish Mortgage Inv Trust (SMT) 1,496.50p 1.73%

Babcock International Group (BAB) 1,056.00p 1.35%

Experian (EXPN) 2,659.00p 1.22%

Barratt Redrow (BTRW) 251.80p 0.92%

St James's Place (STJ) 1,191.50p 0.84%

Smith & Nephew (SN.) 1,155.00p 0.79%

Metlen Energy & Metals (MTLN) 38.49p 0.76%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Convatec Group (CTEC) 206.40p -4.95%

Fresnillo (FRES) 3,221.00p -2.77%

The Sage Group (SGE) 879.60p -2.68%

Whitbread (WTB) 2,365.00p -2.64%

Autotrader Group (AUTO) 482.70p -2.06%

Smiths Group (SMIN) 2,455.00p -2.02%

Bunzl (BNZL) 2,386.00p -1.97%

Airtel Africa (AAF) 331.40p -1.38%

BT Group (BT.A) 231.40p -1.26%

Antofagasta (ANTO) 3,772.00p -1.07%

FTSE 250 - Risers

AJ Bell (AJB) 602.00p 13.30%

QinetiQ Group (QQ.) 469.20p 8.76%

Investec (INVP) 636.50p 3.68%

PPHE Hotel Group Ltd (PPH) 1,600.00p 3.23%

AO World (AO.) 90.40p 3.08%

NB Private Equity Partners Ltd. (NBPE) 1,390.00p 2.96%

AEP Plantations (AEP) 1,824.00p 2.73%

Ibstock (IBST) 98.80p 2.59%

Pantheon Infrastructure (PINT) 119.40p 2.58%

Bridgepoint Group (Reg S) (BPT) 259.00p 2.40%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Mitchells & Butlers (MAB) 233.00p -7.33%

Utilico Emerging Markets Ltd (DI) (UEM) 275.00p -3.17%

TBC Bank Group (TBCG) 4,376.00p -3.06%

C&C Group (CDI) (CCR) 106.00p -2.92%

Pagegroup (PAGE) 114.20p -2.86%

Hays (HAS) 30.58p -2.67%

Ithaca Energy (ITH) 266.10p -2.51%

Hochschild Mining (HOC) 578.50p -2.37%

Foresight Environmental Infrastructure Limited (FGEN) 75.80p -2.32%

Bluefield Solar Income Fund Limited (BSIF) 80.40p -2.31%