London midday: Stocks stay down but Computacenter surges on broker upgrade

(Sharecast News) - London stocks were still lower by midday on Thursday as concerns about sticky US inflation overshadowed strong quarterly earnings from US chip maker Nvidia, and as investors eyed a hotly-anticipated speech by new Federal Reserve chair Kevin Warsh.

The FTSE 100 was down 0.5% at 10,826.20, while Brent crude was up 0.8% at $88.50 a barrel and West Texas Intermediate was 0.2% higher at $82.40.

Susannah Streeter, chief investment strategist at Wealth Club, said: "The Footsie may have flirted with fresh closing highs yesterday, but sentiment looks set to become more cautious as investors refocus on worries about inflation proving sticky, huge government debt piles and the prospect of interest rates lingering at elevated levels. The key central bankers' meeting at Jackson Hole is getting underway, and Fed chair Kevin Warsh's speech tomorrow will be closely watched for hints about the future path of interest rates.

"While headline inflation has dipped back, it's not such a benign picture if you look at the Fed's preferred measure, the Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index. It captures a broader range of prices and spending behaviour, and it's still running hot - headline PCE is at 3.7%, while core PCE came in at 3.3%, above forecasts. That leaves the Fed with a tricky balancing act, with inflation still well above its 2% target just as signs of a cooling economy and a weakening jobs market come to the fore.

"There is some relief on the energy front, however, with Brent crude falling back again to $87 a barrel. Hopes are growing that a framework being worked on by Iran and Oman could pave the way for safer shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, easing fears of prolonged disruption to global oil supplies. That is taking some of the geopolitical risk premium out of the price of crude, although the waterway is not yet fully reopened and the wider conflict remains far from resolved, so the risk of renewed volatility remains."

Investors were also mulling the latest earnings from Nvidia, whose shares were set to rally on Thursday after it reported a doubling of revenues in the second quarter and delivered sales guidance well ahead of market forecasts.

In equity markets, Computacenter shot to the top of the FTSE 100 as Peel Hunt upgraded the shares to 'buy' from 'add' and hiked the price target to 6,000p from 4,400p.

Halfords surged as the motoring and cycling products retailer lifted its profit outlook for the year, having been boosted in party by unusually warm weather. Based on a "strong" performance in the year to date, the company now expects FY27 underlying pre-tax profit of between £55m and £65m, ahead of current consensus of £52.6m and a range of range of £48.9m to £55.1m.

On the downside, Prudential fell despite raising its share buyback programme after reporting strong first-half results, which showed adjusted operating pre-tax profit at the insurance and asset management company were up 10% at $1.52bn. The firm added $300m to its planned share repurchases, taking its total buyback plan for the year to $1.5bn. The interim dividend was also increased by 15%.

Glencore, Croda and Zigup all lost ground as they traded without entitlement to the dividend.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 10,826.20 -0.48%

FTSE 250 (MCX) 24,890.09 -0.03%

techMARK (TASX) 6,187.49 0.32%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Computacenter (CCC) 5,465.00p 4.79%

London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) 8,872.00p 2.14%

Airtel Africa (AAF) 343.80p 1.71%

Halma (HLMA) 3,670.00p 1.49%

Convatec Group (CTEC) 230.40p 1.32%

Relx plc (REL) 2,618.00p 1.31%

Compass Group 11 (CPG) 30.45p 1.20%

Whitbread (WTB) 2,520.00p 1.12%

Metlen Energy & Metals (MTLN) 49.36p 1.06%

The Sage Group (SGE) 1,072.00p 1.04%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

LondonMetric Property (LMP) 189.30p -2.77%

Melrose Industries (MRO) 500.80p -2.61%

Entain (ENT) 516.60p -2.60%

Croda International (CRDA) 3,380.00p -2.45%

Autotrader Group (AUTO) 526.80p -2.34%

Glencore (GLEN) 588.40p -2.14%

Diageo (DGE) 1,704.50p -1.81%

Haleon (HLN) 366.80p -1.71%

Prudential (PRU) 1,023.00p -1.64%

Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 109.95p -1.57%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Halfords Group (HFD) 267.50p 11.41%

Raspberry PI Holdings (RPI) 602.50p 4.69%

Seraphim Space Investment Trust (SSIT) 190.00p 3.26%

XP Power Ltd. (DI) (XPP) 1,852.00p 2.77%

Gamma Communications (GAMA) 1,157.00p 2.66%

Ithaca Energy (ITH) 273.50p 2.43%

Allianz Technology Trust (ATT) 702.00p 2.33%

Polar Capital Technology Trust (PCT) 655.50p 2.02%

Ceres Power Holdings (CWR) 413.20p 1.97%

Kainos Group (KNOS) 1,240.00p 1.97%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Hays (HAS) 71.50p -5.98%

Zigup (ZIG) 436.50p -5.42%

PPHE Hotel Group Ltd (PPH) 1,566.00p -4.51%

Michael Page (PAGE) 215.40p -3.32%

SDCL Efficiency Income Trust (SEIT) 35.05p -3.18%

Dr. Martens (DOCS) 78.10p -2.86%

Shaftesbury Capital (SHC) 147.70p -2.38%

Ocado Group (OCDO) 244.20p -2.24%

Dunelm Group (DNLM) 872.50p -2.08%

HICL Infrastructure (HICL) 136.60p -2.01%