Strong start predicted
The FTSE 100 looks set for a strong open on Friday, with futures pointing to an opening gain of 96 points that would put the index above 10,537.
The positive tone comes despite a bruising session for technology stocks in Asia, where fresh doubts about the artificial intelligence investment boom weighed heavily on sentiment.
A report in the Financial Times said OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, is expected to generate $50 billion in annualised revenue this year, well short of the $70 billion figure previously flagged.
Remember, OpenAI is one of a handful of frontier developers fuelling the debt-backed chip and data centre investment we are seeing. So, any minor correction tends to have an exaggerated impact on the supporting ecosystem.
After the close in London, Wall Street's Nasdaq ended more than 1% lower on Thursday, with Nvidia, the world's most valuable chipmaker, falling nearly 3% after hitting a record high earlier in the week and closing in on a $6 trillion market capitalisation.
Microsoft, AMD and Amazon were also sharply lower.
In Asia on Friday, Tokyo's Nikkei fell, with SoftBank, the Japanese technology investment group, losing more than 4%.
Shanghai also declined, though, oddly, Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained.
A minor boost to sentiment was a drop in oil prices after US President Donald Trump said Washington would not strike Iran before next month's midterm elections, describing talks with Tehran as "productive".
Both main crude contracts fell, adding to sharp declines earlier in the week driven by concerns about disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz.
Brent crude, the international benchmark, was trading just under $103 a barrel.
Comments from Federal Reserve officials reinforced expectations for further US interest rate rises before year-end, though a move this month appears unlikely.
