London open: FTSE dips as Nvidia fails to impress; JD Sports slides

London stocks dipped in early trade on Thursday after third-quarter numbers from US tech giant Nvidia failed to impress investors and as geopolitical tensions continued to simmer.

At 0910 GMT, the FTSE 100 was down 0.1% at 8,079.18.

Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB, said: “Nvidia has reported 3Q revenues above forecasts at $35.1bn, beating estimates of $33.2bn. Data centre revenue, which is the growth engine at Nvidia, was also stronger last quarter, it increased by $30.8bn, vs $29.1bn expected. Although data centres and GPUs are its most important market, Nvidia managed to surpass revenue expectations for most of its business lines, including auto, professional visualization and gaming.

“However, there was a hitch. The market is so far not fully convinced on the outlook for the current quarter, and this has weighed on Nvidia’s stock price performance in the after hours. At one point it dropped more than 2%, which is a mild reaction compared to the past eight quarters, where the average move has been 8%.”

Patrick Munnelly at Tickmill Group said traders were also “keeping a close eye on the growing tensions between Russia and Ukraine, with wires reporting that Russia launched an intercontinental ballistic missile attack against Ukraine, targeting the city of Dnipro, early Thursday”.

On home shores, data from the Office for National Statistics showed the government borrowed more than expected in October as spending and debt repayments outstripped tax receipts.

Government borrowing surged to £17.4bn, up £1.6bn year-on-year, in the first figures published since Finance Minister Rachel Reeves’s Budget last month. Economists had been expecting around £12.3bn.

It is also the second highest October borrowing since monthly records started in 1993.

“Despite the cut in the main rates of National Insurance earlier in 2024, total receipts rose on last year. However, with spending on public services, benefits and debt interest costs all up on last year, expenditure rose faster than revenue overall,” said Jessica Barnaby, deputy director for public sector finances at the ONS.

In equity markets, Halma was the standout gainer on the FTSE 100 as the safety equipment and hazard detection products group raised its interim dividend by 7% after a record first-half performance which saw sales top the £1bn mark. It also retained its guidance for the full year.

Ithaca Energy rose as it announced a $200m special dividend.

On the downside, JD Sports tumbled as the retailer warned full-year profits would be at the lower end of forecasts after a “volatile” trading environment in October due to bigger discounts, milder weather and consumer caution ahead of the US election.

CMC Markets was under the cosh despite saying it swung to an interim pre-tax profit of £49.6m from a loss of £2m a year earlier.

Paypoint lost ground even after it reported a 20.6% improvement in first-half underlying EBITDA to £37.5m on the back of continued operational momentum across its divisions.

Vodafone, National Grid, DCC, B&M European Value Retail, Petershill Partners and Great Portland all fell as they traded without entitlement to the dividend.

Auction Technology was also in the red after an initiation at ‘underperform’ by Jefferies.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 8,079.18 -0.07%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 20,228.55 -0.08%
techMARK (TASX) 4,598.88 -0.05%

FTSE 100 – Risers

Halma (HLMA) 2,735.00p 9.31%
Smurfit Westrock (DI) (SWR) 4,324.00p 2.90%
Vistry Group (VTY) 642.00p 1.26%
Beazley (BEZ) 755.50p 0.87%
Experian (EXPN) 3,662.00p 0.85%
Pershing Square Holdings Ltd NPV (PSH) 3,568.00p 0.73%
F&C Investment Trust (FCIT) 1,104.00p 0.73%
Relx plc (REL) 3,568.00p 0.65%
BP (BP.) 384.00p 0.64%
M&G (MNG) 201.10p 0.63%

FTSE 100 – Fallers

JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 95.16p -15.75%
Vodafone Group (VOD) 69.08p -3.03%
National Grid (NG.) 962.60p -2.04%
DCC (CDI) (DCC) 5,510.00p -1.96%
Melrose Industries (MRO) 493.00p -1.64%
Unite Group (UTG) 831.00p -1.48%
Frasers Group (FRAS) 726.50p -1.42%
Kingfisher (KGF) 281.10p -1.33%
British Land Company (BLND) 375.00p -1.11%
B&M European Value Retail S.A. (DI) (BME) 326.60p -1.06%

FTSE 250 – Risers

Ithaca Energy (ITH) 109.60p 9.82%
Ninety One (N91) 163.60p 5.14%
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 146.80p 3.38%
Breedon Group (BREE) 453.50p 3.19%
PRS Reit (The) (PRSR) 105.80p 2.92%
Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings (AML) 104.30p 2.86%
Endeavour Mining (EDV) 1,600.00p 1.85%
Grainger (GRI) 225.50p 1.58%
PZ Cussons (PZC) 78.10p 1.56%
SDCL Energy Efficiency Income Trust (SEIT) 53.00p 1.53%

FTSE 250 – Fallers

CMC Markets (CMCX) 296.50p -12.41%
PayPoint (PAY) 775.00p -7.19%
Petershill Partners (PHLL) 239.50p -5.89%
Auction Technology Group (ATG) 419.00p -5.84%
Urban Logistics Reit (SHED) 105.00p -4.37%
XPS Pensions Group (XPS) 349.00p -2.51%
Bakkavor Group (BAKK) 127.00p -2.31%
Target Healthcare Reit Ltd (THRL) 82.40p -2.25%
Wood Group (John) (WG.) 50.65p -1.75%
Great Portland Estates (GPE) 291.00p -1.52%