Tech stocks feel the love from investors

THE feelgood factor around a new record for the FTSE 100 index today helped investors take a more positive view on London’s small band of technology stocks.

Ocado shares rebounded 5% and Nvidia backer Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust by 2% as last night’s much improved session on Wall Street boosted sentiment.

There was also cheer lower down the London market after ID security and location software business GB Group surged 13% following a better-thanexpected trading update.

GB, whose £700 million valuation makes it one of the largest stocks on AIM, jumped 33.2p to 292p amid increased demand for its identity products in the Americas and Europe.

The renewed interest in the sector follows a testing few days fuelled by interest rate and geopolitical worries and jitters over the earnings outlook for chipmakers.

Having endured its largest weekly decline since November 2022, the Nasdaq rallied 1.1% on Monday as traders positioned for results in the next few days by Magnificent Seven stocks Alphabet, Meta Platforms and Microsoft.

The strong handover helped the FTSE 100 index hit an intraday high of 8076 before settling at 8042.47, an advance of 0.2% or 18.60 points on last night’s record close.

Grocery warehouse technology business Ocado jumped for the second session in row, up 16.7p to 375.1p in a performance only beaten by AB Foods and JD Sports Fashion. Scottish Mortgage added 14.8p to 826.8p, while the London and New York-listed gambling business Flutter Entertainment put on 245p to 14,980p. The retail sector also continued its momentum after yesterday’s strong session, with Marks & Spencer up another 3.4p to 260p and Tesco 3.6p higher at 294.7p.

Other blue-chip risers included Taylor Wimpey, which lifted 1.1p to 133.3p after reporting that the spring selling season was progressing in line with hopes.

The FTSE 250 added 0.4% or 82.10 points to 19,681.49, led by Ukraine-based iron ore pellets firm Ferrexpo. The shares rallied 4.8p to 53p as it reported its best quarterly production performance since the invasion of Ukraine. Finance chief Nikolay Kladiev said: “The ability to export through the Ukrainian Black Sea ports has been positive not just for our production and sales, but also for the morale of our workers.”