16th Oct 2026 06:57
(Alliance News) - London's FTSE 100 is set to edge marginally lower on Friday, but it has been a stellar week so far for the large-cap benchmark, while equities in Asia were on the up as remarks from Nvidia's boss eased the pressure on tech shares.
IG says futures indicate the FTSE 100 to open 6.1 points lower, 0.1% at 10,834.25 on Friday. The index of London large-caps closed up 115.49 points, 1.1%, at 10,840.35 on Thursday. It has surged 2.7% so far this week, trading resiliently in the face of a tech sell-off elsewhere, and leaving it on track for one of its stronger weeks of the year so far.
In the US on Thursday, Wall Street ended higher, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 1.1%%, the S&P 500 up 0.3% and the Nasdaq Composite up 0.1%.
The tech worries calmed on Friday, with stocks in Asia perking up after New York ended higher.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 was up 1.9%, after a near-5% plunge on Thursday. The Shanghai Composite was 0.2% higher, while the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong was up 1.0%. Sydney's S&P/ASX 200 was 1.0% higher.
Aiding the mood in tech were remarks by Nvidia boss Jensen Huang, defending CoreWeave, which came under substantial selling pressure as investors fretted over its finances.
Huang played down the worries, saying CoreWeave is "improving every day", Bloomberg reported.
"Their cost of capital is actually decreasing," the Nvidia boss added.
Wider AI funding worries played a part in the sell-off this week, and at the heart of that concern was CoreWeave, which shed 15% on Wednesday, recovering 5.9% on Thursday.
CoreWeave is a provider of a cloud platform for artificial intelligence. CoreWeave operates some data centres.
SPI Asset Management analyst Stephen Innes commented: "Wall Street spent most of Thursday trying to decide whether it was having an AI accident or merely another violent rotation, and for a few hours the difference came down to whether you believed Jensen Huang or the bond market.
"His defence of CoreWeave’s financial position was enough to pull the NeoCloud complex off the floor, drag AI equities higher and give the broader market something resembling a pulse. The reaction was almost theatrical. One moment the market was pricing the possibility that the AI financing machine had started eating its own tail, the next it was listening to the high priest of the boom explain that the patient was getting stronger."
The yield on the US 10-year Treasury was quoted at 5.09% early Friday, narrowing from 5.10% at the time of the London equities close on Thursday. The yield on the US 30-year Treasury was quoted at 5.43%, however, widening from 5.42%.
The pound was quoted at USD1.3292, up from USD1.3254. Against the euro, sterling nudged up to EUR1.1839 from EUR1.1828.
The euro firmed to USD1.1222 from USD1.1204. Against the yen, the dollar was trading at JPY157.87, down from JPY158.16.
Gold was quoted at USD4,171.41 an ounce, rising from USD4,152.39. Brent oil traded at USD105.33 a barrel, down from USD106.33.
Friday's global economic calendar has eurozone inflation figures and a US industrial production report.
By Eric Cunha, Alliance News news editor
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