FTSE 100 trades lower as tech optimism fails to lift UK market

The FTSE 100 is trading at around 10,813 points on Thursday. Positive sentiment from the US technology sector has failed to fully spill over into the UK benchmark. The influence of heavyweight commodity and consumer stocks remains too significant, with the latter still under pressure following weaker-than-expected UK retail sales data. Mining stocks are also suffering from profit-taking as commodity prices retreat.

Computacenter is among the strongest performers and currently sits at the top of the index, benefiting from Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s upbeat comments on the outlook for global AI investment. However, the company’s relatively small weighting in the index means its gains are insufficient to offset losses among larger FTSE constituents.

Investors in London are now turning their attention to the release of official US labour market data and the start of the Jackson Hole central banking symposium. Both could provide fresh clues on the outlook for monetary policy and set the tone for global equity markets over the coming sessions.