The FTSE 100 closed a volatile, and record-breaking, week on the front foot on Friday, recouping some of Thursday’s heavy falls.
The FTSE 100 Index closed up 60.53 points, 0.6%, at 10,369.74.
The FTSE 250 ended up 104.54 points, 0.5%, at 23,207.89, and the AIM All-Share advanced 3.90 points, 0.5%, at 806.80.
For the week, the FTSE 100 was up 1.4%, the FTSE 250 was down 0.2%, and the AIM All-Share declined 1.5%.
Despite the gains, data providers and software stocks in London ended a turbulent week with further losses amid fears of AI‑driven disruption, although US technology stocks rallied after Thursday’s slump.
Goldman Sachs explained the launch of a legal automation tool and a new large language model by US AI firm Anthropic, along with broad ramping of AI capacity and services, has led to a sharp rotation out of software and related sectors globally.
“Any company which collates, aggregates, disseminates software and data as a service are seen as increasingly vulnerable to disruption from AI-driven tools. The Anthropic announcement was just a catalyst to realise fears that have been growing,” Goldman said.
On the FTSE 100, Relx, which owns legal publisher LexisNexis, fell 4.6%, credit checking agency Experian declined 4.7%, accountancy software company Sage dipped 3.1% and financial data provider London Stock Exchange eased 1.1%.
On Relx, JPMorgan analyst Daniel Kerven attempted to placate investor fears.
“Relx is not a software business that is going to be eaten by AI,” he claimed.
“It is a data and analytics company. Its value is in owning, curating and licensing authoritative information, and applying technology to its data to provide analytics and models that help the decision making of its customers. Whether decisions are made by human professionals or automated AI workflows, Relx will remain the trusted source of the underlying data, content and analytics that those decisions depend on”, Mr Kerven wrote.
In European equities on Friday, the CAC 40 in Paris closed up 0.4%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt advanced 0.9%.
Stellantis plummeted 25% as it unveiled preliminary second-half figures showing a deep net loss, after the car maker took a heavy charge to scale back its push into electric vehicles, while also announcing the sale of its stake in a Canadian battery joint venture and suspending its dividend.
The Hoofddorp, Netherlands-based auto group said it expects a net loss of between 19 billion euros and 21 billion euros, widening from a 100 million euro loss, after recognising around 22 billion euros of charges.
The charges were largely driven by what Stellantis described as a “strategic shift” to better align its product plans with customer demand, including a slower-than-expected transition to battery electric vehicles.
UBS said “given the magnitude of the kitchen sinking and the soft 2026 guide, we would expect a negative initial share price reaction”.
But it said the “decisive cleaning up” of new management in combination with the operational turnaround in North America, supported by solid overall market fundamentals in the region, leaves Stellantis shares “attractive” on a US “comeback” case in the coming quarters.
But Citi said given the announcement does not include any factory closures “we do not think the news yet resets fully the cost base at Stellantis which is likely necessary on the reduced market shares. We think any upside to Stellantis most likely feature capacity reductions to fully reset the North America and European businesses”.
Stocks in New York rallied after Thursday’s heavy falls. The Dow Jones Industrial Average soared 1.8%, and the S&P 500 jumped 1.4%, as did the Nasdaq Composite.
Missing out on the rebound, Amazon plunged 8.0% after first-quarter guidance disappointed and the technology firm outlined plans for a significant ramp in capital expenditure in the coming year.
Chief executive Andy Jassy said the Bellevue, Washington-based technology company plans to invest 200 billion dollars in 2026, comfortably above FactSet consensus of 146.6 billion dollars, and around 52% ahead of 2025’s 131.8 billion dollars.
Mr Jassy told a conference call with investors the increased spend would “predominantly” go to Amazon Web Services (AWS), Amazon’s cloud computing business.
“We have very high demand, customers really want AWS for core and AI workloads and we’re monetising capacity as fast as we can install it,” he added.
The plans come a day after Google owner Alphabet said it will spend between 175 billion dollars and 185 billion dollars in 2026, while Facebook owner Meta Platforms recently said its capital expenditure could nearly double from 2025 to 115 billion dollars to 135 billion dollars.
Mr Jassy pointed out Amazon has “deep experience understanding demand signals” in the AWS business and then turning that capacity into a strong return on invested capital.
“We’re confident this will be the case here as well,” he added.
Analysts at Wedbush, who remain bullish on Amazon, think the increase in spending will remain an “overhang as investors digest the guide and will likely need to see more tangible returns before regaining comfort”.
The yield on the US 10-year Treasury was quoted at 4.22%, widened from 4.21%. The yield on the US 30-year Treasury was quoted at 4.87%, stretched from 4.86% on Thursday.
The pound was quoted higher at 1.3612 dollars at the time of the London equities close on Friday, compared with 1.3536 dollars on Thursday.
The euro stood higher at 1.1814 dollars, against 1.1791 dollars. Against the yen, the dollar was trading slightly higher at 157.04 yen compared with 156.96 yen.
Back in London, Metlen Energy & Metals sank 20% on the FTSE 100 after it revised down its earnings expectations for the full year, as it noted challenges with its M Power Projects business and the timing of transactions in its asset rotation plan of M Renewables.
Metlen is an Athens and London-based aluminium producer and electricity generator. It also invests in network infrastructure, battery storage, and other green technologies.
The company explained that further to the challenges noted in its interim report back in September, it has identified additional cost overruns and schedule delays solely impacting the performance of MPP.
Gold was quoted higher at 4,946.87 dollars an ounce on Friday, against 4,848.34 dollars at the same time on Thursday.
Brent oil was quoted at 68.47 dollars a barrel on Friday, up from 67.37 dollars late on Thursday.
The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 were Burberry Group, up 58p at 1,180p, International Consolidated Airlines, up 18.2p at 438.5p, Fresnillo, up 138p at 3,694p, Barclays, up 12.65p at 479.1p and Airtel Africa, up 7.4p at 327.6p.
The biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 were Metlen Energy & Metals, down 9.1p at 35.8p, Experian, down 122p at 2,499p, Relx, down 104p at 2,145p, Sage Group, down 26.8p at 844.4p and Compass Group, down 54p at 2,125p.
Next week’s global economic calendar has delayed US nonfarm payrolls and US inflation figures plus a GDP reading in the UK.
Monday’s UK corporate calendar has full-year results from Plus500 and Porvair.
Contributed by Alliance News
