London open: Stocks nudge up; Imperial Brands powers ahead after update

(Sharecast News) - London stocks nudged higher in early trade on Tuesday, with Imperial Brands powering ahead after a well-received update. At 0905 BST, the FTSE 100 was up 0.1% at 9,489.22.

Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: "The FTSE 100 is flat again in early trading, mirroring yesterday's muted performance as investors adopt a wait-and-see approach amid a lack of clear catalysts.

"The S&P 500 notched its seventh straight gain, closing at a fresh all-time high as US markets received a fresh dose of AI mania, with AMD and OpenAI joining forces. Fears of a prolonged government shutdown are taking a back seat to a market buoyed by enthusiasm over a potential rate-cutting cycle and the fast-approaching earnings season.

"OpenAI's Sam Altman is reshaping the AI landscape with infrastructure plans that dwarf anything seen before. OpenAI now has 16GW of data centre commitments tied to Nvidia and AMD, a scale that could demand more than $800 billion in capital on these two deals alone. His ability to pull in partners and cash has turned OpenAI into the industry's gravitational centre, but the sheer size of these bets raises real questions about how they'll be financed and whether returns can keep pace. For now, Altman looks unstoppable, yet the funding challenge will quickly become the next big test for the AI boom."

On home shores, investors mulled the latest data from Halifax, which showed that house prices ticked lower in September, missing forecasts for a slight rise.

According to latest Halifax house price index, prices decreased by 0.3% in September, compared to a 0.2% uplift in August. It was the first decline since May. Most analysts had been expecting another 0.2% rise.

Year-on-year, house prices rose by 1.3%, the slowest annual rate since April 2024 and down on August's 2% rise. It was also below forecasts, for a 2.2% increase.

The average property price now stands at £298,184.

However, Amanda Bryden, head of mortgages at Halifax, said the market remained "broadly" stable.

"This slight monthly dip in house prices reflects a housing market that has remained broadly stable; prices are up 0.3% since the start of the year," she said. "While affordability remains a challenge, a relatively lower mortgage rate environment and steady wage growth have helped support buyer confidence.

"Although the broader economic outlook remains uncertain, with the affordability picture gradually improving, we continue to expect modest growth through the remainder of the year."

In equity markets, tobacco giant Imperial Brands surged riser after saying it remained on track to meet full-year guidance, supported by growth across both its tobacco and next-generation product categories, and announcing a £1.45bn share buyback.

British American Tobacco also gained.

Rentokil rose after a double upgrade to 'outperform' at Bernstein, which said it sees a path towards stronger organic growth.

Shell gushed higher after saying it expects "significantly higher" trading in its gas division in the third quarter than in the previous quarter.

Marks & Spencer was in the black as JPMorgan placed the shares on 'positive catalyst watch' and reiterated its 'overweight' recommendation.

Quilter jumped to the top of the FTSE 250 as RBC Capital Markets suggested it could be a potential takeover target for Lloyds.

"UK banks, and particularly LLOY, are under penetrated in wealth management (WM), missing out on relatively high structural growth and returns," RBC said. "In light of narrowing valuation differentials, we think that the imminent introduction of Target Support could act as a catalyst for LLOY to acquire a wealth manager, and we see Quilter as a particularly attractive proposition."

On the downside, discount retailer B&M tumbled after saying it expects full-year profits to fall by up to 18% as it reported a flat underlying sales performance in the UK in the first half.

Broker Peel Hunt, which rates the shares at 'buy' with a 400p price target, said: "The shares have been relatively weak, and with this warning, they are likely to remain under pressure for now."

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 9,489.22 0.11% FTSE 250 (MCX) 22,054.76 -0.20% techMARK (TASX) 5,532.96 -0.31%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Imperial Brands (IMB) 3,093.00p 2.96% Rentokil Initial (RTO) 404.90p 2.64% British American Tobacco (BATS) 3,872.00p 2.30% London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) 8,724.00p 1.73% Shell (SHEL) 2,772.00p 1.28% Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 379.60p 1.23% Games Workshop Group (GAW) 14,460.00p 1.12% Beazley (BEZ) 909.00p 0.94% Centrica (CNA) 172.05p 0.88% United Utilities Group (UU.) 1,157.50p 0.78%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Flutter Entertainment (DI) (FLTR) 18,100.00p -2.40% Entain (ENT) 857.00p -1.36% Kingfisher (KGF) 298.10p -1.19% Rio Tinto (RIO) 4,935.50p -1.11% Fresnillo (FRES) 2,316.00p -1.11% Antofagasta (ANTO) 2,670.00p -1.04% WPP (WPP) 367.40p -0.92% Weir Group (WEIR) 2,814.00p -0.92% CRH (CDI) (CRH) 8,792.00p -0.90% BAE Systems (BA.) 1,998.00p -0.89%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Quilter (QLT) 167.10p 3.28% SDCL Efficiency Income Trust (SEIT) 58.00p 1.75% Caledonia Investments (CLDN) 378.50p 1.75% Bytes Technology Group (BYIT) 403.20p 1.41% Edinburgh Worldwide Inv Trust (EWI) 207.00p 1.22% Bakkavor Group (BAKK) 214.00p 1.18% Lion Finance Group (BGEO) 7,725.00p 1.18% Carnival (CCL) 1,977.00p 1.10% Raspberry PI Holdings (RPI) 406.90p 1.07% Foresight Group Holdings Limited NPV (FSG) 478.50p 1.06%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

B&M European Value Retail S.A. (DI) (BME) 222.70p -13.08% Diversified Energy Company (DEC) 994.50p -1.83% Anglo-Eastern Plantations (AEP) 1,330.00p -1.48% Vistry Group (VTY) 645.20p -1.38% Ocado Group (OCDO) 222.30p -1.38% Wetherspoon (J.D.) (JDW) 614.50p -1.36% Hays (HAS) 57.10p -1.30% GCP Infrastructure Investments Ltd (GCP) 72.40p -1.23% Travis Perkins (TPK) 626.00p -1.18% BlackRock World Mining Trust (BRWM) 680.00p -1.16%