(Alliance News) - Stocks in London are set to open higher on Thursday, as Nvidia's hotly-anticipated fourth-quarter results didn't disappoint, giving a boost to global equity markets.

IG says futures indicate the FTSE 100 to open up 30.8 points, 0.4%, at 7,693.31 on Thursday. The index of London large-caps closed down 56.70 points, 0.7%, at 7,662.51 on Wednesday.

Minutes from January's Federal Open Market Committee meeting released on Wednesday evening indicated that the central bank's policymakers were in no rush to cut interest rates until there was greater confidence inflation was on track to hit its 2% target.

Officials remained "highly attentive" to inflation risks amid fears the current progress could stall. "Most participants noted the risks of moving too quickly to ease the stance of policy and emphasized the importance of carefully assessing incoming data in judging whether inflation is moving down sustainably to 2%," the minutes stated.

The reaction from the dollar was fairly muted, with it trading slightly weaker against major currencies early Thursday.

Sterling was quoted at USD1.2649 early Thursday, rising slightly from USD1.2644 at the London equities close on Wednesday. The euro traded at USD1.0838, higher than USD1.0812. Against the yen, the dollar was quoted at JPY150.21, a touch below JPY150.25

In the US on Wednesday, Wall Street ended slightly higher, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 rising 0.1% and the Nasdaq Composite up 0.3%.

Nvidia jumped 9.1% in after-hours trade, after declaring artificial intelligence has "hit the tipping point" as it celebrated surges in both quarterly and annual revenue and profit.

The Santa Clara, California-based computer chip manufacturer said revenue for the fourth quarter to January 28 rose 22% quarter-on-quarter to a "record" USD22.10 billion, more than triple USD6.05 billion in the final quarter of the previous year. Net income rocketed to USD12.23 billion from USD1.41 billion.

"Nvidia's rosy revenue forecast for the current quarter suggests the company remains the shining star and, by far and away, the biggest shovel provider for the AI gold rush," noted SPI Asset Management's Stephen Innes.

In Asia on Thursday, the Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo was up 2.2%, boosted by the Nvidia-fuelled optimism, despite flash PMI data suggesting Japan's private sector activity slowed in February. The index hit a new all-time high, beating a record set back in 1989 during Japan's asset bubble.

In China, the Shanghai Composite was up 0.9%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was up 0.8%. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney closed slightly higher.

Gold was quoted at USD2,030.13 an ounce early Thursday, higher than USD2,024.88 on Wednesday.

Brent oil was trading at USD83.31 a barrel, higher than USD82.84.

In Thursday's UK corporate calendar, there are full year results from Anglo American, Hikma Pharmaceuticals, Rolls-Royce, Lloyds and WPP.

The economic calendar for Thursday has a slew of PMI data. There is also the weekly US initial jobless claims.

By Elizabeth Winter, Alliance News deputy news editor

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