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London stocks maintained their upward momentum by midday on Thursday as market participants analyzed the latest results from chipmaker Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) and anticipated upcoming US GDP data.
The FTSE 100 saw an increase of 0.3%, reaching 8,368.19.
Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, noted, "The FTSE 100 edged higher despite a tech-driven decline in the US overnight and a negative after-hours reaction to Nvidia’s earnings report. The absence of significant tech stocks in the UK index provided an unexpected advantage on Thursday morning."
Mould also observed that consumer-focused and resource-related stocks were receiving favorable attention, while the day’s corporate news flow in London remained relatively light.
Attention is now turning to the upcoming release of the second estimate of US GDP. Market participants are hoping for indications of a soft landing for the economy, particularly as the Federal Reserve prepares for its initial interest rate cut in this cycle.
Among individual stocks, Whitbread (LSE:WTB), owner of Premier Inn, led the gains on the FTSE 100 following an upgrade to ‘outperform’ by Bernstein.
Close Brothers experienced a surge after RBC Capital Markets upgraded its rating to ‘outperform’. Bunzl (LSE:BNZL) also saw an increase after being upgraded to ‘sector perform’ from ‘underperform’ by the same firm.
Centrica (LSE:CNA), the owner of British Gas, benefited from an upgrade to ‘buy’ by Jefferies.
GSK (LSE:GSK) saw an uplift as the European Commission approved Arexvy, the first vaccine for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) for adults aged 50 to 59 who are at increased risk due to underlying medical conditions.
Drax (LSE:DRX) shares rose after Ofgem concluded its investigation into the company’s biomass profiling data, addressing whether the power station group met the sustainability criteria for Renewable Obligation Certificates (ROCs).
In contrast, IG Group experienced a decline following the sale of 6.5 million shares by Tom Sosnoff and Scott Sheridan to a limited number of institutional investors. This placing represents approximately 1.8% of the company’s existing share capital.
Sosnoff and Sheridan, co-founders of the US online brokerage and trading education platform Tastytrade, sold their stake following IG’s acquisition of Tastytrade in 2021 for $1 billion.
Diageo and Glencore both saw drops as they began trading without the entitlement to their respective dividends.
