Business news live: FTSE 100 latest, Shell reject BP takeover talk, Nvidia sets ATH

Chip-maker Nvidia saw its share price rise more than 4 per cent last night to set a new record-high share price for the world’s most valuable public company.

Nvidia shares closed at $154.31, comfortably surpassing its previous high of $149.43, set in January. It also means the new market capitalisation value of the firm is $3.76tn (£2.74tn), putting it firmly on track to become the world’s first $4tn company ahead of Microsoft and Apple.

Nvidia in particular had also seen its share price initially lowered after the emergence of DeepSeek AI, but since early April has now surged by around 64 per cent, compared to a 39 per cent rise for Microsoft and 17 per cent for Apple. In pre-market trading, Nvidia sales are projected to rise a further 0.2 per cent on Thursday when stock markets open.

No mega merger of the oil giants – but perhaps investors are thinking about who might be next?

That’s one potential takeaway from the situation, according to Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell.

There has certainly been plenty of buyout action already this year.

“UK takeover action has focused on the mid to lower end of the market so far this year and for a brief moment it looked like we might get the first mega cap action. Alas, Shell has thrown cold water over talk it was preparing a bid for BP, meaning the FTSE 100 hasn’t delivered the surge which many thought might happen this morning,” said Mr Mould.

“Speculation last night around a BP bid effectively set the stage for the UK stock market to rocket today. Instead, Shell has spoiled the party and the blue-chip index is static.

“That won’t stop the market from continuing to speculate about who else might want to buy the FTSE 100 energy giant. It might also encourage investors to dust off the M&A playbook and think about who else could be a takeover target. That might explain why Anglo American’s shares were among the top risers on the FTSE today.”

Last night the S&P 500 dipped late on to finish flat, while the Dow Industrial ended down 0.25 per cent.

Tech stocks meant the Nasdaq stayed afloat, up 0.3 per cent – as we saw earlier, Nvidia’s 4 per cent rise contributed to that.

In Asia there was a different pattern across the board.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng finished 0.6 per cent down, but Japan’s Nikkei 225 was up 1.65 per cent at the close.

Markets in Australia, Shanghai and South Korea finished down, but Saudi’s Tadawul All Share and India’s Nifty 50 are still up – the latter by 0.94 per cent.

There’s been no dramatic movement or change in the Israel-Iran situation over the past day or so – from a humanitarian perspective if nothing else, we can be glad of that – but it’s still a case of hawk’s eyes on commodities for any hint of a change.

Brent Crude Oil remains flat though, slightly down around 0.1 per cent and trading at $66.38.

Gold has risen 0.5 per cent to $3,359, but again is not in touching distance of recent highs past $3,430.

Britain has been putting too much emphasis on signing trade deals with other nations, say ministers, as they bid to instead focus on aiding the services sector by recognising overseas qualifications.

Jonathan Reynolds, business secretary, said: “The UK is an open trading nation but we must reconcile this with a new geopolitical reality and work in our own national interest.”

While acknowledging trade deals can bring “billions to our economy”, Mr Reynolds said they would only work with more targeted deals which look at specific areas of growth.

OK, with European stock markets open, it’s time to take a quick look at the state of play there.

The FTSE 100 is up…just about, 0.05 per cent the increase at present.

It’s slightly better for the FTSE 250, up 0.15 per cent, the same as France’s CAC 40.

Germany’s DAX has started strongly with a 0.58 per cent climb – Siemens, E.ON and Commerzbank are some of the businesses rising there.

Chip-maker Nvidia gained more than 4 per cent in yesterday’s session to break through the $150 price barrier and set a new record high price.

Closing at $154.31, Nvidia now has a $3.76tn market cap and is closing in on being the first $4tn listed company.

Pre-market futures has it rising a further 0.2 per cent later today.

One analyst at Loop Capital has set a $250 price target for the shares, equating to a $6tn valuation. Average analyst price targets are around $175.

As mentioned earlier, last night there were reports of a £200bn superoil firm being created through Shell bidding to buy out BP.

Not so, says the bigger of the pair.

“As we have said many times before we are sharply focused on capturing the value in Shell through continuing to focus on performance, discipline and simplification,” a Shell spokesperson said.

BP opted to say nothing at all.

While the FTSE 100 and DAX both fell yesterday, one notable outlier was Babcock International, which rose more than 11 per cent.

Part of that was doubtless increased profit and the announcement of a share buyback, but the defence firm will also stand to potentially benefit in future after Nato leaders confirmed greater spending in that area in future.

“The rare bright spots in both the UK and Germany were defence stocks after NATO leaders confirmed they would spend 5% of GDP on defence and security by 2035. That was enough for investors to pile into the defence sector once again, even though considerable share price gains have already been made across the board. NATO’s commitment suggests a big opportunity for defence contractors to grow their earnings well into the future,” said Dan Coatsworth, investment analyst at AJ Bell.

Almost three-quarters of retail investors (72 per cent) say that removal of stamp duty would do more to incentivise buying UK shares – while fewer than one in 12 (7 per cent) said reducing the Cash Isa allowance would do the same.

The revelation comes as battle rages over Isa reform, with the government’s potential approach of reducing the amount people can save tax free looking ever-more unlikely to have the desired impact of improving investment.

Richard Wilson, CEO of interactive investor, said: “ISA reform is only one piece of the puzzle. If DIY investors are to be the boost to the UK stock market that the chancellor thinks they can be, she also needs to make UK stocks and shares more investable.

“Stamp duty on UK shares and investment trusts is an outdated and damaging tax from a bygone era that serves only to undermine the competitiveness of the UK stock market. At 0.5%, it penalises investors for backing British businesses, making the UK a less attractive place to invest compared to global peers.

“At a time when we should be encouraging investment in British companies and improving market liquidity, this tax does the exact opposite – driving capital elsewhere and draining liquidity from the market.”