FTSE 100 Live: London index turns green as oil, tobacco and defence stocks climb - Proactive Investors

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Last updated: 15:33 08 Jun 2026 BST, First published: 07:18 08 Jun 2026 BST Advanced Micro Devices, the Nasdaq chips giant better known as AMD, has announced plans as part of London Tech Week to make £2 billion of investments in Britain over the next five years, including a project to build a supercomputer aimed at nuclear fusion. Chief executive Lisa Su says the company is planning to “expand access to the compute infrastructure needed to advance sovereign AI" in the UK. This will include a project to build the Zenith supercomputer at the University of Cambridge, helping with a government-backed Sunrise supercomputer that is being built now to focus on nuclear fusion research, in collaboration with the UK Atomic Energy Authority. Elsewhere, Uber's pursuit of Delivery Hero "faces a fresh" challenge in the form of a Saudi Arabia startup, according the FT. The newspaper is reporting that quick-commerce group Ninja is considering a bid for some of the Frankfurt-listed group's Middle East assets. US tech stocks have led a Wall Street rebounded in early trading, with a sharp recovery in semiconductor stocks the key after they had been to the front on Friday's heavy sell-off. The Nasdaq is up 1.3%, while the S&P 500 has gained 0.9% and the Dow Jones 0.4%. Chipmakers were at the forefront of the rally. Micron Technology and Intel both surged around 10%, while Marvell Technology also gained 10% on news it will join the S&P 500 index. Applied Materials, Lam Research, KLA and ASML all rose between 5% and 6%. The recovery comes after Friday's brutal shakeout in technology stocks, when the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index suffered its biggest one-day decline since 2020. The FTSE 100 is totally flat as gains in US tech do not provide much read-across to London's more defensive, commodity-heavy market. JPMorgan remains positive on equities despite the recent volatility, arguing investors should "use the dips caused by adverse geopolitical news to add into" markets rather than retreat. The bank has also advised clients to "start looking at Low Vol part of the market", saying such stocks should find support "irrespective of where bond yields go from here". While warning that the Iran conflict "retains potential to escalate", strategists believe "both sides have an incentive to come to terms eventually". Looking further ahead, JPMorgan expects Europe to "break out to fresh highs" in the second half of the year, helped by lower geopolitical risks, potential "green shoots in China" and increasing confidence that "rates and yields are not likely to spike". Looking at trading at the end of last week, Morgan Stanley strategists have also been giving their views. Morgan Stanley's Mike Wilson said the sell-off was concentrated in semiconductor stocks, where gains had become increasingly stretched. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index fell 10%, its biggest one-day drop since 2020. Wilson said crowded positioning and leveraged ETFs amplified the decline from "an exceptionally extended" starting point, having risen 96% year to date by the middle of last week, and "around 35% above its 50-day moving average, the widest gap in around 25 years". Oil prices have fallen after Iran said it has completed its part of the latest tit-for-tat attacks with Israel. Brent crude dropped from near $98 a barrel just after 9am to just over $94 now, a gain still of 1.3% today. Iran's Fars news agency said Tehran has declared the end of its military operations against Israel. At least one side of the tit has been tatted apparently. *IRAN DECLARES END OF MILITARY OPERATIONS AGAINST ISRAEL: FARS Shares in Balfour Beatty are up almost 2% today after confirmation that the monitorship of its US military housing business has formally concluded . As a reminder, monitorship was imposed after BB's US Communities arm agreed in 2021 to pay US$65.4 million in fines and restitution and pleaded guilty to fraud linked to performance incentive fees earned under contracts won between 2013 and 2019. Today's news is "a positive development," says analyst Graham Hunt at Jefferies, as the monitorship "has been a significant drag on profits", with the infrastructure investments division reporting a loss of £31 million last year. Balfour expects this division to recover to a small loss in 2026 and return to £10-20 million profit in 2027. "While we do not expect consensus to change, the formal ending of what has been a difficult chapter in Balfour's history should be seen as a net positive." Elsewhere, analyst Wayne Brown at Panmure Liberum has some comments on Revolution Beauty, after it won a deal with Debenhams/Asos , where it will develop beauty and fragrance products for brands like PrettyLittleThings and Karen Millen. Asos/Debs' plan to become an asset-light model "takes many forms but the principle of monetising its IP, leveraging the power of its brands and providing more reasons for its customer to interact with its many marketplaces and websites is tangible," says Brown. He notes that group is back in revenue growth, debt is falling, margins are expanding and licensing deals such as this one "are tangible levers to drive growth on further". The FTSE 100 has turned positive for the first time today. With explosions reported in Tehran as Israel and Iran trade airstrikes, and oil prices only just over $3 from $100 a barrel it might seem counterintuitive to stock market newbies. However, the London index is being carried on the gains of several heavyweights, not