6th Feb 2026 12:09
(Alliance News) - Stock prices in London were mostly higher at midday on Friday, as the FTSE 100 rallied after earlier jitters from the US about artificial intelligence investment.
The FTSE 100 index was up 17.63 points, 0.2%, at 10,326.85. The FTSE 250 was up 17.47 points, 0.1%, at 23,120.82, and the AIM all-share was down 1.93 points, 0.2%, at 800.97.
The Cboe UK 100 was up 0.4% at 1,031.86, the Cboe UK 250 was 0.1% lower at 20,430.28, and the Cboe small companies was down 0.1% at 18,585.16.
In European equities on Friday, the CAC 40 in Paris was up 0.1%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt was 0.6% higher.
Sterling was at USD1.3583 at midday on Friday, up from USD1.3536 at the London equities close on Thursday. The euro was marginally lower at USD1.1790 from USD1.1791. Against the yen, the dollar was slightly higher at JPY157.08 versus JPY156.96.
"It's been a week from hell for tech stocks as AI spending plans caused upset across global markets and pushed investors to unplug hyperscalers from their portfolios," said AJ Bell analyst Russ Mould.
"The FTSE 100 normally benefits when investors are in a risk-off mood, given its plethora of defensive-style companies which churn out profits no matter what's going on in the world. However, investors were in a bad mood full stop.
"Only the energy sector got a proper break as oil prices moved up, benefiting BP and Shell. Banks and pharma did their best to nurse the FTSE 100 back to health, but it wasn't enough to offset the major drag from tech, mining and industrial shares."
Some of the fallers on the FTSE 100 were hit by fears of AI-related disruption to the software, data and analytics sector.
Relx shares were 3.5% lower while Sage Group fell 1.8%.
However, by midday the FTSE 100 was higher despite the ongoing unease.
Meanwhile, pressure continues to mount on UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer to sack his most senior adviser amid the fallout from the Peter Mandelson scandal, the Press Association reported.
Labour MPs issued further calls on Friday for Starmer to dismiss his chief of staff Morgan McSweeney, whom they blame for Mandelson's appointment as US ambassador despite the peer's links to paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.
Other than a handful of backbenchers, most MPs have so far declined to call for the prime minister himself to go, stressing their support for Starmer while urging a change in backroom staff.
The prime minister's official spokesman has said Starmer retains "full confidence" in McSweeney.
Stocks in New York were called higher. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was called up 0.5%, the S&P 500 index 0.6% higher, and the Nasdaq Composite up 0.8%.
The yield on the US 10-year Treasury was unchanged at 4.21%. The yield on the US 30-year Treasury was steady at 4.86%.
In London, Metlen Energy & Metals sank 16% on the FTSE 100 after it revised down its earnings expectations for the full year, as it noted challenges with its M Power Projects business and the timing of transactions in its asset rotation plan of M Renewables.
Metlen is an Athens and London-based aluminium producer and electricity generator. It also invests in network infrastructure, battery storage, and other green technologies.
The company explained that further to the challenges noted in its interim report back in September, it has identified additional cost overruns and schedule delays solely impacting the performance of MPP.
Looking at M Renewables, Metlen said that three M Renewables asset rotation transactions, across the UK, Spain and Australia, had been anticipated to close by the end of last year. The closing of the UK transaction was reported on Wednesday.
Owing to these factors, Metlen said it will not achieve its 2025 earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation target, and guides full-year Ebitda around 25% lower.
In the company's interim results in September, Metlen said 2025 Ebitda was projected to exceed the EUR1 billion mark. For 2024, Ebitda was EUR1.08 billion.
On the FTSE 250 index, HgCapital Trust rose 6.1% after it announced that strong trading from underlying portfolio companies was a key driver of performance, as it reported a higher net asset value.
The company which provides access to private equity investments of manager Hg estimated a net asset value total return per share of 4.0% for 2025.
The estimated NAV per share as at December 31 was 561.9 pence, up 3.3% from 544.1p a year prior.
"Strong trading from the underlying portfolio companies was a key driver of performance over the year, contributing [plus] 17% to portfolio value," HgCapital Trust said.
"Public market volatility has increased sharply through January and into February 2026, especially in the software sector, sparked by investor concerns about the potential impact of AI on the software industry, coupled with a pronounced rotation of capital out of software and into hardware (chips, memory and data-centre build-out)," it noted.
It added that the broad-based decline has seen its share price fall 20% in the year-to-date.
As a result, it said the board is "actively considering" a number of options to address the current discount, including share buybacks.
In a separate release, HgCapital Trust engaged Deutsche Numis to conduct a share buyback programme on its behalf. It will be carried out under the existing authorisation for repurchases of up to 15% of issued capital, being 68.6 million shares.
Among small caps, shares in Baker Steel Resources Trust were up 11%.
The investor in mining companies said its net asset value at the end of January was 152.2 pence per share, up 12% from the last published NAV at the end of December.
The firm said this is due to increases in the share prices of the listed portion of its portfolio amid strong commodity prices.
"The parabolic rise in gold and silver prices could not continue forever and they are due a period of consolidation. We expect the precious metal prices to remain volatile in the short term but the recent pullback may present a window of opportunity for long-term investors seeking wealth protection to build positions," said Trevor Steel, chief investment officer of the investment manager Baker Steel Capital Managers.
Gold was higher at USD4,888.10 an ounce early on Friday from USD4,848.34 late Thursday.
Brent oil was little changed at USD67.38 a barrel on Friday morning from USD67.37 on Thursday.
Still to come on Friday's economic calendar is Canadian jobs data, as the January US jobs report was delayed until Wednesday due to the partial government shutdown.
By Michael Hennessey, Alliance News reporter
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Related Shares:
RelxSage GroupMetlen EnergyHgCapital Trust plcBaker Steel