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(AWP Alliance News) - Stock prices in London opened mixed on Tuesday, with the FTSE 100 falling alongside European peers as investors awaited the outcome of the US midterm elections.
The FTSE 100 index opened down 43.46 points, 0.4%, at 10,717.87. The FTSE 250 was up 130.74 points, 0.5%, at 24,663.65, and the AIM All-Share was down 2.43 points, 0.3%, at 755.49.
The Cboe UK 100 was down 0.5% at 1,062.59, the Cboe UK 250 was down 0.5% at 21,809.22, and the Cboe Small Companies was down 0.3% at 18,894.37.
In European equities on Tuesday, the CAC 40 in Paris was down 0.5%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt fell 0.9%.
Sterling was quoted at USD1.3417 early Tuesday, unchanged from the London equities close on Monday. Against the euro, sterling rose to EUR1.1984 from EUR1.1980 a day earlier.
The euro edged down to USD1.1196 from USD1.1200 late Monday. Against the yen, the dollar rose to JPY157.93 from JPY157.82.
In the FTSE 100, Centrica was the leading gainer, rising 2.9% after Jefferies upgraded the energy company's rating to 'buy' from 'hold' and raised its price target to 200 pence from 190p.
Hiscox advanced 2.5% after reporting higher insurance premiums in the first nine months of 2026.
The insurer said group insurance contract written premiums increased 10% to USD4.44 billion from USD4.05 billion a year earlier, while its investment result declined to USD104.2 million from USD350.8 million.
At the other end of the blue-chip index, Associated British Foods fell 2.3% after reporting lower annual profit and warning that earnings would decline further in its 2027 financial year due to its Sugar business.
The food ingredients and retail group said pretax profit fell 10% to GBP1.28 billion in the financial year ended September 2026 from GBP1.41 billion a year earlier.
Adjusted operating profit declined 13% to GBP1.51 billion from GBP1.73 billion, while revenue edged up 1.0% to GBP19.58 billion from GBP19.46 billion, although it fell 1.0% at constant currency.
Adjusted earnings per share decreased 11% to 156.0 pence from 174.9p.
Associated British Foods maintained its annual dividend at 63.0p per share, comprising a final dividend of 42.3p and an interim payout of 20.7p.
Looking ahead, the company expects adjusted operating profit and earnings per share in financial 2027 to be below 2026 levels, reflecting weakness in its Sugar division, in line with previous guidance.
The group also said the planned demerger of its Primark retail business remained on track for completion in December 2027.
Associated British Foods plans to hold separate capital markets days for Primark in April and the remaining AB Foods businesses in July.
Elsewhere, Shell edged down 0.2% after agreeing to sell its nearly 17% non-operated interest in the North West Shelf liquefied natural gas project in Western Australia to subsidiaries of energy investment company XRG PJSC.
The transaction carries a base consideration of USD1.45 billion.
In the FTSE 250, International Workplace Group jumped 9.0% after saying it expects full-year 2026 adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation to exceed market consensus of USD599 million, following strong third-quarter trading.
The flexible workspace provider reported a 9.0% increase in group revenue to USD1.03 billion from USD947 million a year earlier.
System-wide revenue rose 12% to USD1.26 billion from USD1.13 billion, taking its annualised revenue run rate above USD5.00 billion, while its global network surpassed 5,000 centres.
Company-owned revenue grew 8.0% to USD969 million, with revenue per available room up 2.0%, while Managed & Franchised fee revenue jumped 28% to USD45 million.
IWG signed agreements for 332 new centres and opened 211 during the quarter.
Drax Group climbed 8.2% after announcing an agreement to develop a strategic partnership with Brookfield and its UK-based artificial intelligence infrastructure platform Radiant.
The partnership aims to develop and operate a data centre with more than one gigawatt of potential capacity at Drax Power Station in Yorkshire.
Brookfield estimates that total potential investment could exceed GBP20 billion, including semiconductor chips, with an initial GBP2.5 billion earmarked for the first phase.
Among smaller companies, Allergy Therapeutics plunged 50% after announcing plans to seek shareholder approval to cancel its shares from trading on London's AIM market and re-register as a private limited company.
The pharmaceutical company said challenging financial market conditions had negatively affected its market capitalisation.
Allergy Therapeutics intends to put the proposed AIM cancellation to a vote at its annual general meeting, while continuing to explore a primary listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
In the US on Monday, Wall Street ended mixed, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average rising 0.4%, while the S&P 500 fell 0.5% and the technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite declined 1.1%.
Americans head to the polls on Tuesday for midterm elections that will determine which party controls Congress during the final two years of President Donald Trump's second term.
All 435 seats in the House of Representatives are up for election, with Republicans defending a narrow majority and Democrats needing a net gain of four seats to take control.
In the Senate, 35 seats are being contested. Republicans currently hold 53 seats against 47 held by Democrats, leaving the opposition party needing a net gain of four seats to secure a majority.
Meanwhile, US chipmaker Nvidia has instructed its data centre partners to reduce their exposure to Chinese customers, according to the Financial Times.
Citing five people familiar with the matter, the newspaper reported that Nvidia's cloud computing clients must now sell at least 51% of their services to non-Chinese companies.
The restrictions would apply only to future contracts, leaving existing agreements unaffected.
Nvidia neither confirmed nor denied the report, but said in a statement that "data centres and clouds built on American chips are the foundation that American model and application makers need to compete worldwide."
"Longstanding US policy encourages every cloud to build on American infrastructure and to win business everywhere they can," the company added.
In Asia on Tuesday, the Shanghai Composite in China was down 0.8%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong gained 0.6%. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney was up 0.3%.
Financial markets are closed in Japan on Tuesday for Culture Day.
Gold was quoted at USD3,909.02 an ounce early Tuesday, lower than USD3,968.02 on Monday.
Brent oil was trading at USD106.32 a barrel early Tuesday, higher than USD105.09 late Monday, as diplomatic efforts to ease tensions between Washington and Tehran continued.
US President Donald Trump signalled progress in talks with Iran aimed at preventing a resumption of hostilities, while Tehran confirmed that "intensive" exchanges were underway and offered to reopen the Strait of Hormuz under strict conditions.
However, the US on Monday attacked Iran's Qeshm Island, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The Journal, citing unnamed US officials, described the strike against Qeshm, the largest island in the Strait of Hormuz, as the latest of a series of limited strikes Washington has secretly carried out against Iran in recent weeks.
Iranian state news agency IRNA reported five explosions in rapid succession were heard on the island, and that some residents reported seeing two aircraft flying in its skies.
Still to come on Tuesday's economic calendar, the US releases factory orders figures, as well as job openings data.
By Eva Castanedo, Alliance News senior economics reporter
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