The FTSE 100 opened 22.19 points lower at 10,750.55 after stocks in the US climbed overnight following cooler inflation numbers this week. Brent crude futures rose 0.98% to $87.92 per barrel. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) advanced 1.10% to $82.14 per barrel.
Sterling edged up to $1.3501 on Friday morning, from $1.3498 at the time of the London equities close on Thursday. Versus the euro, however, it faded to €1.1692 from €1.1701.
On the upside, Sage Group climbed 4.63% to 1,062p. Experian advanced 4.55% to 2,939p, while RELX gained 3.37% to 2,575p. Auto Trader Group rose 2.93% to 541.20p, Entain added 2.31% to 558.20p, and Computacenter increased 2.17% to 5,045p.
On the downside, Antofagasta fell 4.69% to 3,580p. Endeavour Mining declined 2.31% to 4,014p, while Anglo American dropped 1.69% to 3,849p. AstraZeneca slipped 1.37% to 11,548p, Rio Tinto lost 1.35% to 7,069p, and Coca-Cola Europacific Partners edged 0.76% lower to 7,890p.
Insurance giant Aviva posted a jump in profit; the insurer recorded an operating profit of £1.3 billion in the first half, up 24% from £1.07 billion a year earlier.
It followed the £3.6 billion Direct Line acquisition being finalized in July 2025. Aviva’s general insurance premiums grew 29% to £8.1 billion, with UK and Ireland premiums up 42% to £5.9 billion.
Meanwhile, net flows in its wealth management arm grew 32% to £7.6 billion, driven by a new pension scheme and strong sales through its investment platform.
The Nasdaq climbed 0.8%. Tesla rose nearly 4%, while Meta and Broadcom also advanced.
Chip and memory stocks were among the biggest winners. SanDisk jumped nearly 14%, Micron gained around 4% and Super Micro Computer added another 4% after surging 19% a day earlier.
The standout move came from enterprise software firm Workday, which soared 18% after Reuters reported that private equity group Silver Lake had held talks over a potential takeover.
Meanwhile, Cisco sank 9% following its results, while AI chipmaker Cerebras dropped 12%.
Also Read: Stock Market Update: Nifty 50 Opened 0.14% Lower, Sensex Declined 176.53 Points
In the US, the S&P 500 rose to a fresh all-time high on Thursday as the index added 0.65% and surpassed 7,800 for the first time ever, closing at 7,798.99. The Nasdaq Composite gained 0.81%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average inched 0.13% higher.
In Asia on Friday, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 rose 0.59% to 68,713.8, while China’s Shanghai Composite dipped 0.01%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng declined 0.99%, and South Korea’s Kospi edged higher by 2.42%. In India, both the Nifty 50 and the Sensex fell by 0.2% and 0.30%, respectively.
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