London open: FTSE slides after US, Asian tech selloff; US NFP eyed

(Sharecast News) - London stocks tumbled in early trade on Friday following a tech selloff on Wall Street and in Asia, as investors eyed the latest US non-farm payrolls report.

At 0830 GMT, the FTSE 100 was down 1.5% at 10,626.33 despite its technology-light weighing, getting swept up in the broader downbeat sentiment. At the same time, Brent crude was up 0.5% at $98.82 a barrel and West Texas Intermediate was 0.4% higher at $90.85.

Susannah Streeter, chief investment strategist at Wealth Club, said: "The tech selloff has intensified, with the pain of the brutal selloff on Wall Street carried straight through to Asia and knocking sentiment in Europe. Big worries are colliding - the build-out of data centres looks set to slow, which risks shredding the spending spree underpinning the boom, right at the time that investors have become super nervous about returns on this massive investment.

"Any slowdown in AI generated growth, particularly in the US, will have repercussions for the wider market, and it comes as inflationary pressures are still playing on minds. Oil prices have crept higher yet again, as uncertainty swirls about the outcome of the middle East crisis, with fresh military action still potentially on the table."

On home shores, data released earlier showed that house prices slid in October as the challenging economic backdrop hit home.

The Lloyds house price index fell 0.6% last month, building on September's 0.1% dip. On an annual basis, house prices are now 1.2% lower - the biggest decline since October 2023. Both falls were considerably steeper than expected.

The average price of a property in the UK now stands at £296,285.

Andrew Asaam, mortgage director at Lloyds, said: "Housing demand is currently being tested by a challenging economic backdrop. Renewed inflationary pressures, driven in part by the conflict in the Middle East, are keeping borrowing costs high and adding to the squeeze on household finances, making some buyers understandably more cautious."

However, he argued it was important to put October's decline into context. "House prices have changed relatively little over the past couple of years, as the market gradually adjusted to higher interest rates."

Looking ahead, and Lloyds expects conditions to remain subdued in the near term. But Asaam added: "We don't expect this to lead to a sustained period of falling house prices. With wages continuing to grow faster than property prices, the gap between earnings and house prices should gradually narrow, helping affordability to improve over time."

Investors were also digesting figures from the British Retail Consortium, which showed that retail footfall fell sharply in October amid low consumer confidence, with high streets the worst hit due to stormy weather.

The BRC-Sensormatic footfall monitor showed that footfall declined 4.7% on the year following a 2.9% drop in September.

Footfall on the high street fell 5.2% in October, a deterioration on the previous month's 3% decline. Retail parks suffered a 3.6% drop in footfall last month, following a 1.7% fall in September, while the decline at shopping centres worsened to 4.1% from 3.5% a month earlier.

Footfall fell by 3.1% in Northern Ireland, 4.3% in Scotland, 4.6% in England, and 6.3% in Wales.

BRC chief executive Helen Dickinson said: "Footfall fell sharply in every part of the UK in October. Low consumer confidence was likely a key factor in the decline in visitors, as households navigated rising inflation and high energy costs. Of all destinations, High Streets were hit the hardest, as the stormy weather led many consumers to stay home or use locations with easy parking options."

Looking to the rest of the day, attention will turn to the non-farm payrolls report for October, along with average earnings and the unemployment rate, due at 1330 GMT. Expectations are for 65,000 jobs to have been added last month, while the unemployment rate is set to remain at 4.2%.

In equity markets, BA and Iberia owner IAG flew higher despite reporting a drop in third-quarter profit as a sharp rise in fuel costs and operational disruption offset strong revenue growth across its transatlantic business. It also said annual capacity would be slightly lower than a year earlier.

Coca-Cola HBC rose after saying it had received no notification from the Russian government of any changes to its operations in Russia, which have been operated locally on a self-standing basis since 2022. The statement came after shares in the bottler of Coca-Cola products tumbled on Thursday following reports its Russian business could be seized or placed under state-controlled external management.

It said in a brief statement on Friday: "Coca-Cola HBC does not rely on income or capital from its Russian business to fund the group's operations outside Russia or to service the group's indebtedness."

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 10,626.33 -1.45%

FTSE 250 (MCX) 24,430.51 -1.10%

techMARK (TASX) 6,142.26 -1.41%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Coca-Cola HBC AG (CDI) (CCH) 4,138.00p 1.73%

Metlen Energy & Metals (MTLN) 45.34p 0.79%

Scottish Mortgage Inv Trust (SMT) 1,438.00p 0.31%

Pershing Square Holdings Ltd NPV (PSH) 3,846.00p 0.26%

International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 428.10p 0.21%

DCC Energy (DCC) 6,455.00p 0.00%

RELX FINANCE BV 3.375% GTD NTS 20/03/33 (BW73) 98.64p 0.00%

Intertek Group (ITRK) 5,940.00p 0.00%

Babcock International Group (BAB) 1,012.00p -0.10%

easyJet (EZJ) 688.00p -0.14%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

AstraZeneca (AZN) 13,658.00p -2.76%

Haleon (HLN) 332.00p -2.44%

Informa (INF) 837.20p -2.41%

Experian (EXPN) 3,054.00p -2.36%

Imperial Brands (IMB) 2,984.00p -2.35%

Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 435.10p -2.30%

Convatec Group (CTEC) 247.20p -2.21%

Antofagasta (ANTO) 3,023.00p -2.21%

Rio Tinto (RIO) 6,115.00p -2.19%

British American Tobacco (BATS) 4,614.00p -2.16%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Frasers Group (FRAS) 945.50p 3.79%

Utilico Emerging Markets Ltd (DI) (UEM) 273.00p 3.69%

Hansa Investment Company Limited (DI) (HAN) 340.00p 3.03%

Seraphim Space Investment Trust (SSIT) 167.60p 2.68%

TBC Bank Group (TBCG) 5,025.00p 2.47%

Syncona Limited NPV (SYNC) 120.40p 2.33%

Workspace Group (WKP) 366.40p 2.29%

Vietnam Enterprise Investments (DI) (VEIL) 724.00p 1.54%

Fidelity Emerging Markets Limited Ptg NPV (FEML) 1,174.00p 1.38%

Pacific Horizon Inv Trust (PHI) 930.00p 0.76%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Ocado Group (OCDO) 325.80p -4.36%

Trainline (TRN) 192.00p -4.00%

Entain (ENT) 477.30p -3.84%

JPMorgan Japanese Inv Trust (JFJ) 734.00p -3.68%

Worldwide Healthcare Trust (WWH) 385.00p -3.63%

Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 1,616.00p -3.36%

Man Group (EMG) 309.20p -3.36%

Auction Technology Group (ATG) 491.40p -3.18%

Playtech (PTEC) 357.60p -3.09%

Schroder Asian Total Return Investment Company (ATR) 585.00p -2.99%