28th May 2025 17:04
(Alliance News) - Blue-chip stock prices in Europe closed lower on Wednesday, as a decent start to the week gave way to some caution ahead of earnings from New York listing Nvidia, which has been at the heart of an artificial intelligence boom.
The chipmaker releases annual earnings after the closing bell in New York later.
"This week's stock market rally is taking a breather ahead of Nvidia first-quarter results," IG analyst Axel Rudolph commented.
The FTSE 100 index closed down 52.04 points, 0.6%, at 8,726.01. Equities had been supported at the start of the week by an easing of US and EU trade tensions, before the more downbeat trade on Wednesday.
The FTSE 250 edged up just 7.61 points to 20,946.19, and the AIM All-Share rose 1.67 points, 0.2%, at 741.58.
The Cboe UK 100 ended down 0.6% at 869.94, the Cboe UK 250 fell 0.1% to 18,473.50, but the Cboe Small Companies rose 0.7% to close at 16,734.16.
In European equities on Wednesday, the CAC 40 in Paris faded 0.5%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt slipped 0.8%.
The pound fell to USD1.3465 late on Wednesday afternoon in London, compared to USD1.3515 at the equities close on Tuesday. The euro stood lower at USD1.1294, against USD1.1337. Against the yen, the dollar was trading higher at JPY144.95 compared to JPY144.22.
The yield on the US 10-year Treasury was quoted at 4.49%, widening from 4.46%. The yield on the US 30-year Treasury was quoted at 4.99%, widening from 4.96%.
In New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.3% at the time of the closing bell in London. The S&P 500 was 0.2% lower and the Nasdaq Composite down 0.1%.
Shares in chipmaker Nvidia were marginally higher on Wednesday in New York, and have edged up round 1.0% since the end of last year.
XTB analyst Kathleen Brooks commented: "This is expected to be another quarter of monster revenue for Nvidia, however it may lead to the familiar question, can these results continue? Thus, Nvidia's outlook for future revenues will be worth watching closely.
"Nvidia only produces outlooks for the next quarter, so the focus is likely to be on demand for Blackwell chips, Nvidia's most advanced chip currently for sale. The market will also be looking for an update on demand from China, and to see if Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang's charm offensive with President Trump will be enough to reverse the ban of H20 chips to the world's second-largest economy."
Before the Nvidia earnings, there is the latest batch of Federal Reserve meeting minutes at 1900 BST.
Earlier this month, the Federal Open Market Committee voted unanimously to maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at 4.25-4.50%.
SPI Asset Management analyst Stephen Innes commented: "The Fed minutes today might offer some kindling, but they're already stale-priced off a world where tariffs were at 23%, not the now-revised 13%. That means the real catalyst hunt continues. Rate cuts are still priced in."
Brent oil was quoted higher at USD64.43 a barrel at late on Wednesday afternoon in London, from USD63.14 late Tuesday. Gold edged up to USD3,296.24 an ounce against USD3,295.13.
Simmering geopolitical tensions boosted oil, though gold returned earlier gains. The precious metal had traded as high as USD3,325.49 earlier on Wednesday.
The Kremlin on Wednesday rebuffed a call by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for a three-way summit with Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin as Kyiv seeks to force Moscow to halt its more than three-year-long invasion.
Moscow said any meeting involving Russian President Putin and Zelensky would only happen after "concrete agreements" had been struck between negotiators from each side.
Putin rejected calls to meet Zelensky in Turkey earlier this month, when Russia and Ukraine held their first direct peace talks in three years.
In London, shares in B&Q owner Kingfisher fell 3.6%. It was among the worst FTSE 100 performers. It said it made a "good start" to its new financial year, mostly thanks to fine spring weather in the UK and Ireland.
It reported total sales of GBP3.31 billion in the first quarter of its financial year, which ended April 30, rising 1.6% from a year before. Total sales were up 2.2% on a constant currency basis, and like-for-like sales were up 1.8% at constant currency.
This was driven by a 6.1% growth in sales in the UK & Ireland, boosted by "favourable weather" and offset by a 4.9% decline in sales in France. Poland recorded a 0.4% slip in sales for the three-month period, with "current geopolitical factors adversely impacting the Polish consumer", while other international regions collectively saw 2.5% sales growth.
"It is still early in the year and consumer sentiment remains mixed across our markets. We are focused on executing our strategic growth priorities, maintaining discipline on margin and costs, and driving shareholder returns," said Chief Executive Officer Thierry Garnier.
Kingfisher maintained its full-year guidance for adjusted pretax profit between GBP480 million and GBP540 million, against GBP528 million the year before.
Pets At Home added 1.6% as it reported increased annual profit, hailing a "profound transformation" for the company.
The Cheshire, England-based pet care firm reported pretax profit of GBP120.6 million in the financial year that ended March 27, up 14% from GBP105.7 million the year before. Revenue inched up 0.1% to GBP1.48 billion.
"The past two years have seen a profound transformation at Pets at Home. We have moved from a business with a strong presence in pet retail and vets, to a true pet care platform," CEO Lyssa McGowan said.
Looking ahead, Pets At Home said it expects current market conditions and the subdued consumer backdrop to remain in financial 2026.
The first six weeks of the year have begun as expected, with profit tracking in line with guidance, the company noted.
Underlying pretax profit in Retail is expected to decline in financial 2026, while the company anticipates "further progress" in underlying pretax profit for its Vet arm.
Pets At Home guides for group underlying pretax profit to fall to between GBP115 million and GBP125 million in financial 2026 from GBP133.0 million in financial 2025. This had been up 0.7% from GBP132.0 million in financial 2024.
Elsewhere in London, Angle fell 18%, among the worst performers on AIM.
The Guildford, England-based liquid biopsy company said its pretax loss narrowed to GBP15.0 million in 2024 from GBP21.6 million a year earlier. Revenue increased 32% to GBP2.9 million from GBP2.2 million.
However, the company warned that market uncertainty and funding cuts were weighing on revenue so far this year.
Angle cited "recent market turbulence" and "reductions to research funding across academic and government labs" as reasons for a slow start to 2025, adding that while demand was building, revenue conversion remained uncertain.
The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 were Endeavour Mining, up 46.00 pence at 2,276.00p, Pershing Square Holdings, up 78.00p at 3,954.00p, Unite Group, up 15.00p at 835.00p, Hikma Pharmaceuticals, up 36.00p at 2,148.00p, and Polar Capital Holdings, up 5.00p at 331.50p.
The biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 were Kingfisher, down 10.50p at 285.30p, J Sainsbury, down 9.00p at 284.00p, Lloyds Banking Group, down 1.86p at 76.62p, Melrose Industries, down 10.00p at 466.50p, and Sage Group, down 22.50p at 1,226.50p.
Thursday's economic events calendar has a US gross domestic product reading and the latest initial jobless claims data at 1330 BST.
The UK corporate diary has annual results from automotive marketplace operator Auto Trader.
By Eric Cunha, Alliance News news editor
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