31st Jul 2026 06:59
(Alliance News) - Stocks in London are set to open in the green on Friday, after equities in New York roared higher on Thursday, while overnight numbers from Amazon and Apple received contrasting responses.
IG says futures indicate the FTSE 100 to open 53.4 points higher, 0.5%, at 10,950.67 on Friday. The index of London large-caps closed down 11.14 points, 0.1%, at 10,897.27 on Thursday,
Apple slumped 6.3% in extended trade after the iPhone maker warned supply constraints will increase significantly in the current quarter.
As a result, the Cupertino, California-based technology company expects September quarter revenue, Apple's fourth quarter, to grow between 9% and 11% year-over-year, below consensus which forecast growth of around 12%.
Chief Financial Officer Kevan Parekh told analysts the September quarter will be impacted by a foreign exchange sequential headwind of about 2.5 percentage points while he expects the impact from supply constraints to increase significantly sequentially, impacting the iPhone, Mac and iPad.
Amazon raced 9.6% higher. The e-commerce and cloud computing said second quarter net income multiplied to USD62.65 billion from USD18.16 billion a year prior. Diluted earnings per share jumped to USD5.75 from USD1.68, far surpassing the USD1.8 Visible Alpha consensus estimate.
Revenue totalled USD200.61 billion, up 20% from USD167.70 billion and better than the USD196.4 billion consensus.
SPI Asset Management analyst Stephen Innes commented: "More importantly, AWS revenue increased 37% to USD42.2 billion. The division produced USD16.6 billion of operating income and a 39.4% operating margin. Those are not merely impressive cloud numbers. They are beginning to answer the central question hanging over the entire AI investment cycle: can the hyperscalers convert vast capital expenditure into revenue growth without sacrificing the economics of the underlying business?"
In the US on Thursday, Wall Street ended higher, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 1.2%, the S&P 500 up 1.7% and the Nasdaq Composite up 2.8%.
The US tech rally on Thursday fuelled gains in Asia. Tokyo's Nikkei 225 jumped 4.4%, while the Kospi in Seoul, heavily exposed to a chip sector plunge this week, soared 17%. Despite the Kospi still sitting 2.0% lower for the week, it represents a remarkable turnaround after shedding 11% on Tuesday and 6% on Wednesday. Stocks including Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, at the heart of the tech tantrum in Seoul this week, were 26% and 30% higher on Friday.
In China, the Shanghai Composite was up 0.8%, though the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong was down 0.3% in afternoon trade. Sydney's S&P/ASX 200 edged up 0.1%.
Sterling was steady at USD1.3440 early Friday, as the dust settles on Thursday Bank of England hold, from USD1.3439 at the time of the previous London equities close. Against the euro, it rose to EUR1.1678 from EUR1.1671. The euro faded to USD1.1506 from USD1.1516. Against the yen, the dollar rose to JPY160.68 from JPY159.44.
The Bank of Japan on Friday decided to leave its benchmark interest rate unchanged.
Following the latest July monetary policy meeting, the central bank's policy board left the uncollateralised overnight call rate at around 1.0% in an eight-to-one vote.
The decision was widely expected based on the consensus forecast cited by FXStreet.
Takata Hajime was the lone dissenter among policymakers, calling for the central bank to lifts its benchmark rate to around 1.25%.
"Takata Hajime considered that the situation had shifted to a new phase in which the bank needs to adopt a nimble approach in response to upside risks to prices caused by demand shocks stemming from overseas developments and to changes in overseas financial conditions," the BoJ said in a statement.
In its updated outlook for economic activity and prices, the BoJ said it expects Japan's economy to continue growing moderately in financial year ending March 31, albeit at a slower rate.
"At the very least, the economic outlook mentions some upside risks regarding inflation. All in all, however, it’s safe to say that this is unlikely to be enough for the market to change its expectations regarding the Bank of Japan," Commerzbank analyst Volkmar Baur commented.
The yield on the 10-year US Treasury eased to 4.65% early Friday from 4.67% at the time of the London equities close on Thursday. The 30-year yield eased to 5.19% from 5.21%.
A barrel of Brent eased to USD87.14 early Friday, from USD89.84. Gold traded at USD4,074.71 an ounce, down from USD4,099.23.
Friday's economic calendar has UK July house price index data from Nationwide to be out imminently, as well as eurozone inflation data at 1000 BST.
Friday's UK corporate calendar sees half-year results from British Airways owner International Consolidated Airlines, bank NatWest and online property portal Rightmove.
By Eric Cunha, Alliance News news editor
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