London open: FTSE nudges up; GSK surges on guidance upgrade

(Sharecast News) - London stocks nudged higher in early trade on Wednesday as investors mulled disappointing US tech results and continued to assess the impact of Trump's trade war.

At 0830 GMT, the FTSE 100 was up 0.1% at 8,577.75.

Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB, said: "Risk appetite continues to dwindle this week and European shares have opened lower, although the FTSE 100 is eking out a gain. There is too much uncertainty which is eroding the foundations of a broad-based stock market rally as we move through February. The two big themes driving markets right now are earnings reports and the threat of tariffs, which are tricky for investors to navigate.

"As we mentioned on Tuesday, the majority of companies on the S&P 500 that have reported earnings, have beaten estimates, and the market is rewarding stocks who do beat earnings estimates by a higher margin than average. This also means that the opposite is true. Companies are getting punished if their earnings disappoint. This is why Alphabet is expected to open significantly lower on Wednesday, and chip maker AMD could follow suit.

"Alphabet reported Q4 revenues of $81.6bn, which was lower than the $82.8bn expected. The company boosted its capex spend by more than expected, capex will be $75bn in 2025, vs expectations of $57.9bn. This is a significant increase, and it shows that Alphabet is throwing the kitchen sink at its AI plans."

In UK equity markets, pharma giant GSK surged to the top of the FTSE 100 as it missed forecasts slightly with its annual results, but raised its guidance for long-term growth and announced plans to buy back �2bn of stock over the next 18 months.

Sales in 2024 increased by 3% to �31.38bn, slightly short of the �32bn expected by analysts, while core earnings per share rose 3% to 159.3p, missing the 163.9p consensus estimate.

However, due to progress in its late-stage drug pipeline, GSK upped its 2031 sales outlook to more than �40bn, from �38bn previously.

Private housing provider Grainger was in the black as it said net rental income rose 15% year-on-year in the four months to the end of January 2025, driven by strong demand and portfolio growth.

Housebuilder Crest Nicholson was boosted by an upgrade to 'buy' at Investec.

On the downside, Ferrexpo slid again, having tumbled late on Tuesday after it said a civil claim worth 157 billion Ukrainian hryvnia (�3bn) had been filed against its Ukrainian unit Ferrexpo Poltava Mining (FPM) in relation to the alleged sale of waste products from the production of iron ore pellets.

Sales, marketing and support services group DDC lost ground as it said operating profit in its technology segment declined in the third quarter due to a weak market for consumer technology products in the UK and Europe over the holiday season.

Spirax was also on the back foot after a downgrade to 'hold' at HSBC.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 8,577.75 0.08%

FTSE 250 (MCX) 20,629.72 -0.11%

techMARK (TASX) 4,696.23 0.67%

FTSE 100 - Risers

GSK (GSK) 1,470.00p 6.52%

Fresnillo (FRES) 725.50p 1.68%

Flutter Entertainment (DI) (FLTR) 21,150.00p 1.34%

Vodafone Group (VOD) 65.86p 1.17%

Smurfit Westrock (DI) (SWR) 4,297.00p 0.82%

Land Securities Group (LAND) 576.50p 0.70%

Haleon (HLN) 375.90p 0.67%

BT Group (BT.A) 142.65p 0.56%

BP (BP.) 424.55p 0.56%

British Land Company (BLND) 368.80p 0.55%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

DCC (CDI) (DCC) 5,355.00p -2.55%

Spirax Group (SPX) 7,790.00p -1.89%

Halma (HLMA) 2,948.00p -1.40%

Croda International (CRDA) 3,170.00p -1.34%

Scottish Mortgage Inv Trust (SMT) 1,054.50p -1.22%

Weir Group (WEIR) 2,326.00p -1.19%

Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 588.00p -0.94%

Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 342.40p -0.75%

Whitbread (WTB) 2,750.00p -0.72%

Kingfisher (KGF) 239.20p -0.71%

FTSE 250 - Risers

IP Group (IPO) 54.70p 7.89%

Crest Nicholson Holdings (CRST) 169.60p 4.05%

Grainger (GRI) 214.50p 2.63%

Premier Foods (PFD) 190.00p 2.59%

Coats Group (COA) 92.80p 1.64%

Diversified Energy Company (DEC) 1,359.00p 1.49%

Hochschild Mining (HOC) 182.00p 1.45%

Indivior (INDV) 926.50p 1.26%

Asia Dragon Trust (DGN) 425.00p 1.19%

Helios Towers (HTWS) 97.50p 1.14%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Ferrexpo (FXPO) 74.00p -7.50%

Raspberry PI Holdings (RPI) 724.00p -2.75%

Me Group International (MEGP) 210.00p -2.55%

CMC Markets (CMCX) 221.00p -2.21%

Fidelity Emerging Markets Limited Ptg NPV (FEML) 694.00p -1.84%

Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings (AML) 102.80p -1.53%

Plus500 Ltd (DI) (PLUS) 2,816.00p -1.19%

Jupiter Fund Management (JUP) 77.00p -1.16%

Hilton Food Group (HFG) 858.00p -1.04%

JTC (JTC) 959.00p -1.03%