London open: FTSE up and faring better than peers after Asian AI selloff

(Sharecast News) - London stocks rose in early trade on Monday, benefiting from their low exposure to the tech sector, after a slump in AI-linked Asian stocks.

At 0835 BST, the FTSE 100 was up 0.6% at 10,711.47. The top-flight index was outperforming its European peers, with the benchmark Stoxx 600 index down 0.2%, Germany's DAX 0.3% lower and France's CAC 40 down 0.4%.

Stocks with AI links tumbled in Asia after the chief executives of Anthropic and OpenAI called over the weekend for the pace of development of AI models to slow down for safety reasons.

Meanwhile, oil prices gained after new strikes on Saudi Arabia, attacks on vessels near the Strait of Hormuz and the shutdown of Saudi Arabia's East-West pipeline. Brent crude and West Texas Intermediate were up 2.8% at $107.52 and $102.86 a barrel, respectively.

Richard Hunter, head of markets at Interactive Investor, said: "Two separate interviews on Saturday from the CEOs of rivals OpenAI and Anthropic threw some cold water on the current state of play. OpenAI revealed that it would not be proceeding with its IPO this year, on the basis that it would be 'ill-advised', and Anthropic advised that the pace of AI innovation needs to slow because of safety concerns. Of course, even if Anthropic and others in the US went down that route, the 'toughest dilemma' would then remain as to whether China and others would follow suit. It also brings into question whether the tsunami of investment may be starting to peak in that space.

"The weekend was also punctuated by a further 2% oil price spike overnight on Sunday to leave the price hovering around $107 per barrel. This followed reports that Saudi Arabia had temporarily closed a key pipeline which had been used to bypass the Strait of Hormuz following drone attacks launched from Iraq. This East-West pipeline, which links the Gulf to the Red Sea, had been moving several million barrels each day and inevitably causes additional supply constraints.

"The development also suggests that the conflict is as far away from resolution as ever, and the inflationary impacts of elevated oil (and derivative) products are starting to become keenly felt."

Looking ahead to the rest of the week, policy announcements from the Federal Reserve, the Bank of England and the Bank of Japan will be in focus. Patrick Munnelly at Tickmill Group said: "The BoE is expected to hold rates this week, but investors are watching for another £50bn reduction in gilt holdings under quantitative tightening. With both the Fed and ECB tightening financial conditions, short sterling futures are fully pricing a 25 bps BoE hike by November.

"The BoJ, meanwhile, faces growing pressure to raise rates on Friday as policymakers attempt to lean against Yen weakness and energy-driven import inflation."

Corporate news was scarce, but Metlen Energy & Metals was in focus after saying it had signed a supply agreement with Malaysia's Petronas for delivery of LNG shipments to Greece.

Drugmaker GSK rallied as it hailed two major advances in its oncology pipeline, while AstraZeneca ticked higher despite saying that a breast cancer pill had failed to meet the primary endpoint in a phase 3 trial.

Raspberry Pi and Polar Capital Technolgy were both in the red, hit by AI worries.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 10,711.47 0.57%

FTSE 250 (MCX) 23,927.73 -0.20%

techMARK (TASX) 5,978.21 0.77%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Relx plc (REL) 2,580.00p 4.32%

The Sage Group (SGE) 998.60p 4.18%

Experian (EXPN) 2,871.00p 3.34%

Smith & Nephew (SN.) 1,039.50p 3.22%

GSK (GSK) 1,815.50p 2.51%

London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) 8,440.00p 2.50%

BAE Systems (BA.) 1,930.00p 1.84%

Tesco (TSCO) 473.50p 1.83%

AstraZeneca (AZN) 11,888.00p 1.61%

Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 337.40p 1.59%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Halma (HLMA) 3,520.00p -2.70%

Fresnillo (FRES) 2,957.00p -1.89%

International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 411.10p -1.83%

Antofagasta (ANTO) 3,714.00p -1.77%

Glencore (GLEN) 596.00p -1.29%

Weir (WEIR) 2,684.00p -1.10%

Rio Tinto (RIO) 7,274.00p -1.10%

Spirax Group (SPX) 6,775.00p -1.09%

IMI (IMI) 3,004.00p -0.92%

Anglo American (AAL) 3,940.00p -0.88%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Premier Foods (PFD) 199.10p 4.96%

W.A.G Payment Solutions (EWG) 102.00p 4.83%

IP Group (IPO) 69.00p 4.70%

WPP (WPP) 378.40p 3.11%

Hays (HAS) 68.60p 2.92%

Trustpilot Group (TRST) 256.40p 2.31%

Harbour Energy (HBR) 280.00p 2.27%

Michael Page (PAGE) 216.00p 2.08%

NCC Group (NCC) 129.20p 1.89%

Kainos Group (KNOS) 1,214.00p 1.69%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Globaldata (DATA) 59.75p -16.55%

Raspberry PI Holdings (RPI) 524.25p -5.20%

Ceres Power Holdings (CWR) 388.80p -5.18%

Baltic Classifieds Group (BCG) 2.35p -4.39%

Oxford Instruments (OXIG) 2,656.00p -3.62%

JPMorgan Emerging Markets Dividend Income (JEMI) 204.00p -3.32%

Polar Capital Technology Trust (PCT) 634.00p -2.98%

Pacific Horizon Inv Trust (PHI) 1,088.00p -2.86%

Fidelity Emerging Markets Limited Ptg NPV (FEML) 1,458.00p -2.78%

Renishaw (RSW) 4,986.00p -2.63%