London midday: Stocks flat as attention turns to Nvidia earnings
By Michele Maatouk
Date: Wednesday 27 Aug 2025
(Sharecast News) - London stocks had pared earlier small gains to trade flat by midday on Wednesday as attention turned to upcoming results from Nvidia.
The FTSE 100 was steady at 9,268.33.
Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said: "The future direction of markets will be determined by Nvidia's results tonight. A lot is riding on these figures given how the chip company is such a dominant name in the US stock market and a popular investor holding globally."
"Any sign of a slowdown in AI demand could see its share price pull back, and that could drag down the entire market. Nvidia has form in pulling a rabbit out of the hat with its results and it is ever the optimist, suggesting that it could sweet-talk investors even if it does deliver bad news."
On home shores, the latest survey from the Confederation of British showed that retail sales fell for the eleventh month in a row in the year to August.
The retail sales volume balance was -32%, a slightly improvement on July's -34%.
The balance of expected sales improved to -16 from -31.
Martin Sartorius, principal economist at the CBI, said: "Retailers endured another tough month in August, with annual sales volumes falling for the eleventh consecutive month. Weak demand and higher labour costs continue to put pressure on margins, dampening sentiment across the retail and wider distribution sector. This downbeat outlook is reflected in firms' plans to scale back investment and hiring.
"The government's fiscal decisions are continuing to bite, and retailers' struggles send a clear signal: business cannot be asked to balance the books again at the Autumn Budget. Building business confidence through delivery must be the priority - starting with a rethink of the Employment Rights Bill, which risks piling on unnecessary costs and holding back jobs and investment."
In equity markets, sports fashion retailer JD Sports rallied after saying that FY26 pre-tax profits were set to meet current market expectations despite a drop in group sales in the six months ended 2 August. The company also announced a new £100m share buyback.
Rio Tinto ticked up as the mining giant announced the simplification of its product group structure into three businesses: iron ore, aluminium & lithium, and copper.
Prudential reversed earlier gains to trade lower after it delivered double-digit growth across its key metrics in the first half, with earnings coming in ahead of analysts' forecasts as it announced new plans for share buybacks over the next two years.
Hochschild Mining tumbled as it cut its full-year production target after problems at its Mara Rosa operation due to weather and contractor issues.
The company now expects to produce 291,000- 319,000 gold equivalent ounces, down from a prior forecast of 350,000-378,000 ounces. Mara Rosa's production target was revised down to 35,000-45,000 ounces from 94,000-104,000.
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