San Francisco Frontiers - Stock markets diverge on corporate earnings, tech jitters

After a mostly downbeat showing across Asia, Europe's main indices advanced, with the European Central Bank expected to leave interest rates unchanged later Thursday after the Federal Reserve maintained US borrowing costs on Wednesday.

"Buoyed by strong corporate results, European markets chalked up strong gains on Thursday, bucking the negative trend seen in Asia overnight," said AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould.

Bumper profits for oil giants Shell and TotalEnergies helped lift the London and Paris stock markets.

Both companies benefited from disruptions to oil and gas supplies in the Middle East, which boosted prices and refining margins.

Crude prices dipped more than one percent, however, on reports of renewed diplomatic efforts between the United States and Iran to avoid further strikes.

"While the Federal Reserve decision held few surprises, US futures pointed to a weak start thanks to a poor reception for Google-owner Alphabet's earnings," Mould added.

Shares in Alphabet plunged more than 10 percent in after-hours trading Wednesday as the company reported lower-than-expected profit while it maintained big spending on artificial intelligence.

Futures contracts indicated a negative opening on Wall Street, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq pointing down over one percent.

Underwhelming results from South Korea's Samsung Electronics also added to doubts about the returns on AI spending.

Samsung, the world's largest maker of memory chips, delivered record quarterly profits but missed market expectations in its semiconductor division.

South Korea's Kospi shares index closed down 1.2 percent, while Hong Kong and Shanghai also fell. Tokyo finished higher.

In other tech news, Microsoft posted forecast-topping revenue and profit, fuelled by its Azure cloud computing division, and cloud specialist Oracle issued an encouraging revenue forecast.

"Tech earnings will remain in focus today with Amazon and Intel reporting," said Deutsche Bank's Jim Reid.

Markets had enjoyed a healthy run-up in the previous two days as traders welcomed strong reports from South Korean chip titan SK hynix and an impressive IPO filing from Claude-creator Anthropic.

There was little major reaction to the Federal Reserve's widely expected decision to hold interest rates, as it cited the need for more data in the fight against inflation, which has held stubbornly above officials' two-percent target for five years.

Two dissenting members of the panel voted for an immediate interest rate increase.

Personal consumption expenditures data, the Fed's preferred inflation gauge, will be released on Thursday, as well as US GDP growth for the third quarter.

Investors are keeping track of efforts in Israel to form a new government after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the opposition were tied in this week's general election.

The outcome of negotiations could play a major role in the future of the Iran war.

- Key figures at around 1130 GMT -

London - FTSE 100: UP 0.4 percent at 10,736.65 points

Paris - CAC 40: UP 1.0 percent at 7,762.67

Frankfurt - DAX: UP 1.0 percent at 25,955.35

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: UP 1.1 percent at 64,659.47 (close)

Seoul - Kospi: DOWN 1.2 percent at 5,937.66 (close)

Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: DOWN 0.6 percent at 22,958.65 (close)

Shanghai - Composite: DOWN 0.8 percent at 3,651.43 (close)

New York - Dow: UP 0.2 percent at 52,475.10 (close)

West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 1.3 percent at $101.42 per barrel

Brent North Sea crude: DOWN 1.2 percent at $113.89 per barrel

Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1151 from $1.1154 on Wednesday

Pound/dollar: UP at $1.3328 from $1.3320

Dollar/yen: DOWN at 157.97 yen from 158.03 yen

Euro/pound: DOWN at 83.67 pence from 83.71 pence

Q.Nelson--SFF