21st Nov 2025 06:51
(Alliance News) - Stocks in London are set to open sharply lower on Friday, after a massive swing to the red in New York overnight, with sentiment still tetchy amid tech sector worries.
IG says futures indicate the FTSE 100 to open 95.7 points lower, 1.0%, at 9,431.95 on Friday. The index of London large-caps closed up 20.24 points, 0.2%, at 9,527.65.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended down 0.8%, the S&P 500 shed 1.6% and the Nasdaq Composite slumped 2.2%.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 was down 2.1%. In China, the Shanghai Composite was 2.2% lower, and the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong slumped 1.9%. Sydney's S&P/ASX 200 ended down 1.6%.
"We were happily sitting and watching Nvidia save the market after announcing another round of impressive results the night before. And all of a sudden – shortly after the US open – the mood started souring, and things went downhill from there. The Nasdaq, which jump-started 2% higher at the open, finished the day nearly 2.5% lower. That was really something," Swissquote analyst Ipek Ozkardeskaya commented.
"A few reports and analyst comments on Nvidia's own books started circulating yesterday, suggesting unease around two pressure points: swelling inventories and unusual patterns in deferred revenue. People started pointing out that Nvidia has built up large stockpiles of chips – partly because demand is shifting toward its next-generation Blackwell platform, and partly because US export controls have left billions' worth of H20 chips potentially unsellable, forcing a multi-billion-dollar write-down."
Nvidia shares fell 3.2% on Thursday in New York.
Ozkardeskaya also said a jobs report on Thursday was "mixed and confusing".
According to figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics the US labour market added more jobs than expected in September, with total nonfarm payroll employment increasing by 119,000 in September, topping the FXStreet cited forecast of 50,000.
But figures for July and August were revised downwards by a combined 33,000, while the unemployment rate edged up unexpectedly to 4.4% in September, from 4.3% in August. It had been expected to remain at 4.3%.
The jobs market report for September is the last nonfarm payrolls data the Federal Reserve will be able to mull over before its final decision of the year on December 10.
The pound was largely unchanged at USD1.3089 on Friday morning, from USD1.3091 at the time of the London equities close on Thursday. The euro rose to USD1.1542 from USD1.1534. Against the yen, the buck fell to JPY157.15 from JPY157.46.
The yield on the 10-year US Treasury narrowed to 4.09% on Friday from 4.10% at the time of the London equities close on Thursday. The 30-year yield widened slightly to 4.73% from 4.72%.
Focus in the UK is on government borrowing data at 0700 GMT. A retail sales reading is published at the same time.
According to consensus cited by FXStreet, borrowing is expected to have fallen to GBP15.2 billion in October, from GBP20.2 billion in September. The September reading was up 8.6% on-year and had represented the loftiest reading for that month since 2020.
Elsewhere on Friday, there are a slew of flash purchasing managers' index readings, including from Germany at 0830 GMT, the eurozone at 0900, the UK at 0930 and the US at 1445.
Gold fell to USD4,037.31 an ounce early Friday, from USD4,058.47 late Thursday afternoon. Brent fell to USD62.76 a barrel from USD63.44.
Friday's UK corporate calendar has half-year results from aerospace, defence and nuclear engineering company Babcock International and full-year results from online fashion retailer Asos.
By Eric Cunha, Alliance News news editor
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