London open: FTSE edges lower in quiet trade; Fresnillo shines on acquisition

(Sharecast News) - London stocks edged lower in early trade on Friday following a fresh record close in the previous session, as investors digested results from tech giants Apple and Amazon, and the latest UK house price figures. At 0820 GMT, the FTSE 100 was down 0.2% at 9,743.37.

Derren Nathan, head of equity research at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: "There are few tricks or treats expected to drive markets today with corporate reporting largely taking a mid-earnings season breather, and scheduled US inflation data delayed due to the ongoing government shutdown.

"The FTSE 100 is down slightly this morning after eking out yet another record close yesterday marking a climb of over 4% for the month. With November around the corner there's a growing focus on the forthcoming Budget."

Commenting on the US tech results, Nathan said: "Amazon's latest results were all about AWS - and it didn't disappoint. Cloud revenue jumped 20% year-over-year to $33 billion, the fastest growth since 2022, helping to ease some fears that Amazon is falling behind its rivals. The message from management was clear: demand for computing power, especially for AI, is exploding, and they're racing to keep up. With billions going into new infrastructure and custom chips, the cloud battle is only getting more intense.

"Apple's quarter came down to the iPhone. Sales of $49 billion were a touch light, but guidance for the holiday season stole the show, with expectations for record revenue and double-digit iPhone growth in the coming quarter. The story here is strong demand held back by supply, something that should be fixed by Christmas. Looking ahead, Apple faces a big test on AI - its "Apple Intelligence" launch fell flat, and the new Siri coming next year will be a defining moment for the biggest brand on the planet."

On home shores, the latest figures from Nationwide showed that house price growth eased a little in October.

Prices were up 0.3% on the month, down from 0.5% growth in September. On the year, however, house prices rose 2.4%, up from 2.2% the month before.

The average price of a home stood at £272,226 in October, up from £271,995 a month earlier.

Nationwide chief economist Robert Gardner said: "The housing market has remained broadly stable in recent months, with house prices rising at a modest pace and the number of mortgages approved for house purchase maintained at similar levels to those prevailing before the pandemic struck.

"Against a backdrop of subdued consumer confidence and signs of weakening in the labour market, this performance indicates resilience, especially since mortgage rates are more than double the level they were before Covid struck and house prices are close to all-time highs.

"Looking forward, housing affordability is likely to improve modestly if income growth continues to outpace house price growth as we expect. Borrowing costs are also likely to moderate a little further if Bank Rate is lowered again in the coming quarters.

"This should support buyer demand, especially since household balance sheets are strong - indeed, in aggregate the ratio of household debt to disposable income is at its lowest for two decades."

There wasn't much happening on the corporate front, but precious metals miner Fresnillo jumped to the top of the FTSE 100 after saying it has agreed to buy Canadian exploration company Probe for about CAD $780m (£424m) in an all-cash deal.

Fresnillo said the acquisition marked a strategic entry into Canada and the "prolific" Val d'Or Mining camp in Quebec, which has a long-standing history of gold mining and continued production growth.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 9,743.37 -0.17% FTSE 250 (MCX) 22,276.11 0.00% techMARK (TASX) 5,621.99 0.13%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Fresnillo (FRES) 2,292.00p 1.96% Haleon (HLN) 354.50p 1.05% Diageo (DGE) 1,751.00p 1.04% Smith & Nephew (SN.) 1,379.50p 0.91% Games Workshop Group (GAW) 15,950.00p 0.63% Persimmon (PSN) 1,219.50p 0.54% Convatec Group (CTEC) 243.60p 0.41% Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 4,064.00p 0.40% Intertek Group (ITRK) 5,085.00p 0.39% Prudential (PRU) 1,066.50p 0.38%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Smurfit Westrock (DI) (SWR) 2,743.00p -2.00% Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 343.00p -1.44% Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,550.50p -1.30% WPP (WPP) 298.80p -1.22% Flutter Entertainment (DI) (FLTR) 17,660.00p -1.15% HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 1,060.80p -0.84% CRH (CDI) (CRH) 8,880.00p -0.80% NATWEST GROUP (NWG) 583.80p -0.78% Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,270.00p -0.78% Croda International (CRDA) 2,868.00p -0.76%

FTSE 250 - Risers

NCC Group (NCC) 154.00p 4.62% Bridgepoint Group (Reg S) (BPT) 316.20p 4.49% Ruffer Investment Company Ltd Red PTG Pref Shares (RICA) 306.00p 2.68% Vesuvius (VSVS) 387.40p 2.11% Frasers Group (FRAS) 775.00p 2.04% Pantheon Infrastructure (PINT) 108.00p 1.89% Barr (A.G.) (BAG) 680.00p 1.49% Watches of Switzerland Group (WOSG) 405.00p 1.40% Baillie Gifford Japan Trust (BGFD) 942.00p 1.40% BioPharma Credit (BPCR) 0.91p 1.34%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

XPS Pensions Group (XPS) 325.50p -4.55% Chrysalis Investments Limited NPV (CHRY) 118.00p -2.96% Drax Group (DRX) 728.00p -2.74% Breedon Group (BREE) 337.80p -2.48% VinaCapital Vietnam Opportunity Fund Ltd. (VOF) 460.00p -1.92% Raspberry PI Holdings (RPI) 354.20p -1.77% Wickes Group (WIX) 220.00p -1.57% Hill and Smith (HILS) 2,130.00p -1.39% Playtech (PTEC) 270.50p -1.28% Inchcape (INCH) 754.50p -1.24%