London Stocks Fall Amid Concerns Over Sticky US Inflation

London stocks fell in early trade on Thursday as concerns about sticky US inflation overshadowed strong quarterly earnings from US chip maker Nvidia. The FTSE 100 was down 0.4% at 10,830.63, while Brent crude was off 1.5% at $86.49 a barrel and West Texas Intermediate was 1.7% lower at $80.87.

Susannah Street, chief investment strategist at Wealth Club, noted that sentiment looks set to become more cautious as investors refocus on worries about inflation proving sticky. The key central bankers' meeting at Jackson Hole is getting underway, and Fed chair Kevin Warsh's speech tomorrow will be closely watched for hints about the future path of interest rates.

Nvidia reported a doubling of revenues in the second quarter and delivered sales guidance well ahead of market forecasts, prompting a rally in its shares. In UK equity markets, Computacenter shot to the top of the FTSE 100 as Peel Hunt upgraded the shares to 'buy' from 'add' and hiked the price target to 6,000p from 4,400p.

However, Prudential fell despite raising its share buyback programme after reporting strong first-half results. The firm added $300m to its planned share repurchases, taking its total buyback plan for the year to $1.5bn.