The FTSE 100 struck another record high on Thursday with well-received earnings from the likes of Howden Joinery, LSEG and Rolls-Royce offsetting hefty falls for miners.
“Three cheers for the UK stock market as it leaves the US in the rear-view mirror in performance terms this year,” said Dan Coatsworth, head of markets at AJ Bell.
The FTSE 100 index ended up 40.29 points, 0.4%, at 10,846.70, a record close. It had earlier hit a record high of 10,856.80, and is up 9.0% year-to-date.
The FTSE 250 ended up 82.11 points, 0.4%, at 23,719.00, but the AIM All-Share closed down 1.56 points, 0.2%, at 815.23.
Mr Coatsworth said the “resilient” showing from the UK stock market was “even more striking when looking at the miserable turn from Wall Street”.
“The Nasdaq got off to a bad start, weighed down by a negative reaction to Nvidia’s results and growing discontent around all things AI-related. Tech stocks have had their moment in the sun and investors look ready to move onto another potential source of riches,” he suggested.
Stocks in New York were mostly lower with tech stocks on the back foot. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up slightly, the S&P 500 index was 0.7% lower, and the Nasdaq Composite declined 1.3%.
Nvidia fell 4.1% despite blow-out fourth quarter earnings and guidance as the AI trade continues to be questioned.
JPMorgan analyst Harlan Sur said Nvidia is clearly “firing on all cylinders, both internally and across its vast supply chain”, but “even so, the stock response suggests investors were left wanting more”.
Mr Sur thinks this is tied to continued uncertainty around the growth trajectory for Nvidia’s Data Centre business in financial 2027, given massively expanded capex budgets for key customers.
In European equities on Thursday, the Cac 40 in Paris closed up 0.7%, while the Dax 40 in Frankfurt rose 0.5%.
The pound was lower at 1.3513 dollars on Thursday afternoon, from 1.3537 at the equities close on Wednesday.
The euro stood lower at 1.1792 dollars, from 1.1804.
The yield on the US 10-year Treasury narrowed to 4.03% on Thursday from 4.05% on Wednesday. The yield on the US 30-year Treasury trimmed to 4.68% from 4.69%.
In London, Howden Joinery and London Stock Exchange Group vied for top billing on the FTSE 100, with Rolls-Royce flying closely behind.
Kitchen supplier Howden Joinery leapt 11% as it said it was “well placed to outperform our competitors” and reported a profit that beat expectations.
Pretax profit climbed 5.1% to £344.9 million in the financial year ended December 27, from £328.1 million in 2024. It beat the upper end of the company-compiled consensus range of £322 million to £343 million.
Analysts at Stifel said it is “reassuring to see Howden continuing to outperform a sluggish UK kitchen market. Howden remains a high-quality compounder with decent exposure to UK [repair, maintenance, and improvement] recovery.”
LSEG rose 9.1% as it launched a new £3 billion share buyback as profit soared on the back of broad-based income growth.
The exchange operator and data provider said pretax profit rose 57% to £1.97 billion in 2025 from £1.26 billion the year prior.
Total income excluding recoveries was up 5.8% to £8.99 billion from £8.49 billion. Including recoveries, it rose 5.5% to £9.35 billion from £8.89 billion.
For 2026, LSEG forecast organic constant currency growth in total income (excluding recoveries) of 6.5% to 7.5% and constant currency earnings before interest, tax, depreciation margin growth of 80 basis points to 100 bps.
In 2025, Ebitda margin improved to 50.3% from 48.8% in 2024.
In addition, LSEG targets equity free cash flow of at least £2.7 billion, up from £2.4 billion in 2025.
Meanwhile, Rolls-Royce climbed 3.2% as it set out bullish new mid-term financial targets and launched its first multi-year share buyback programme as it delivered annual results ahead of forecast.
In 2025, pretax profit more than trebled to £6.94 billion from £2.23 billion, with revenue up 12% to £21.21 billion from £18.91 billion.
Looking ahead to 2028, Rolls-Royce set out up upgraded mid-term targets including underlying operating profit of £4.9 billion-£5.2 billion and free cash flow of £5.0 billion-£5.3 billion.
It had previously guided to underlying operating profit of £3.6 billion-£3.9 billion and free cash flow of £4.2 billion-£4.5 billion.
In addition, the firm announced its first multi-year buyback programme of £7 billion to £9 billion for 2026 through to 2028, with a £2.5 billion chunk to be completed this year.
David Perry at JPMorgan said the buyback was the “biggest positive”.
“For many decades investors have hoped that Rolls-Royce could convert its strong technology into a cash generating machine that could deliver strong shareholder returns. That hope is now a reality.”
But it was a gloomy day for investors in Hikma Pharmaceuticals which plummeted 17%.
The London-based pharmaceutical maker withdrew mid-term guidance and delivered a softer than hoped outlook for the current financial year. It also shook up its top management team.
Panmure Liberum analyst Seb Jantet said: “What Hikma needed was a reassuring set of results but that isn’t what the company delivered this morning. While FY25 was in line with expectations, the guidance for FY26 was disappointing, particularly in Injectables and it likely to trigger circa 5% downgrades to consensus numbers.”
Aside from Hikma, blue-chip fallers were dominated by mining stocks. Fresnillo fell 5.1%, Antofagasta fell 4.4%, Anglo American fell 3.6%, reversing Wednesday’s gains.
Gold eased to 5,180.61 dollars an ounce on Thursday from 5,204.64 dollars on Wednesday.
On the FTSE 250, advertising agency WPP enjoyed a wild ride as it unveiled a multi-year strategic overhaul aimed at simplifying the group and restoring organic growth, as it reported a fall in earnings for 2025 and cut its dividend.
Shares traded as much as 9.6% lower before closing 4.2% in the green as investors assessed the plans.
Chief executive officer Cindy Rose, who has led WPP for six months, said its new plan, branded “Elevate28”, will transition WPP from a holding company structure into a “single company” streamlined into four operating units – WPP Media, WPP Creative, WPP Production and WPP Enterprise Solutions.
Reflecting her confidence, Ms Rose purchased 50,000 shares in WPP for 269 pence each.
Brent oil traded higher at 72.58 dollars a barrel on Thursday afternoon, from 70.76 dollars late Wednesday.
The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 were Howden Joinery, up 92.00p at 948.00p, London Stock Exchange Group, up 706.00p at 8,500.00p, Relx, up 110.00p at 2,525.00p, Experian, up 116.00p at 2,778.00p and Haleon, up 16.30p at 394.20p.
The biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 were Hikma Pharmaceuticals, down 279.00p at 1,373.00p, Fresnillo, down 222.00p at 4,104.00p, Antofagasta, down 195.00p at 4,260.00p, Anglo American, down 136.00p at 3,693.00p and Metlen Energy & Metals, down 1.30p at 36.35p.
Friday’s global economic calendar has French and German inflation readings, a GDP print in Canada, UK consumer confidence figures and US PPI data.
Friday’s UK corporate calendar has full-year results from property portal Rightmove, educational materials publisher Pearson, and aerospace firm Melrose.