(Sharecast News) - London stocks gave up earlier gains to finish in negative territory on Tuesday, despite oil prices continuing to fall back on hopes the US-Iran conflict could be coming to an end.
After being ahead for most of the session, the FTSE 100 closed down 0.29% at 10,751.59. This was despite oil prices continuing to fall, with benchmark Brent crude shedding 0.9% at $91.74 a barrel and West Texas Intermediate off 0.29% at $86.60. Sentiment was boosted after Donald Trump said overnight that the war with Iran was "effectively over".
Speaking to reporters at the White House, he said: "We're just keeping it the status quo.
"And we're doing that really at the behest of countries that are their neighbours."
He added: "At this point, taking the military action doesn't seem to be a very necessary thing - but we're locked and loaded, ready to go for any reason."
In a post on Truth Social, the US president said he had had an "excellent" talk with the Qatari prime minister and highlighted "positive momentum toward an end to this conflict".
Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said: "Markets are increasingly taking the view that Trump needs to forge a new path if he wants to save face from the midterm election washout, and that might mean finding a way to end the Iran war. In doing so, he would, in theory, help bring down energy costs which would bring relief to consumers and businesses.
Trump's comments preceded the latest US headline consumer price index coming in higher-than-forecast, however, at 0.4% month-on-month. Axel Rudolph, chief technical analyst at IG, said: "The US 10-year Treasury yield rises towards 5.00% as hotter-than-expected October inflation strengthens expectations of further Federal Reserve rate hikes, with Fed governor Waller also backing a December increase."
On home shores, figures from the British Retail Consortium and KPMG showed that retail sales growth remained sluggish in October as consumers held back spending ahead of Black Friday and Christmas amid mounting pressure on household budgets.
Total retail sales increased by 1.5% year on year over the four weeks to 31 October, slightly below the 1.6% growth recorded in the same period last year, but ahead of the three-month average of 1.2%.
Investors were also mulling the latest data from Worldpanel by Numerator, which showed that grocery price inflation continued to edge upwards in October as retail's critical golden quarter got underway.
Like-for-like grocery price inflation was 2.6% in the four weeks to 1 November, up from 2.5% in September and 2.3% a month prior to that. Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Worldpanel, said: "While prices are rising at a slower rate than at the beginning of the year, the direction of travel has changed. Household budgets have already taken a hit after the latest increase to the energy price cap arrived with the cold weather in October, and shoppers will be keeping a close eye on prices at the till this winter."
In equity markets, shares in Marks & Spencer sparked after the high street giant pledged to double the dividend and reiterated plans to ramp up food and clothing sales.
On the downside, Shell and BP gushed lower as oil prices fell, while Avon Technologies slid despite posting a rise in full-year profit and revenue. Miners were also on the back foot.
Shares of Vodafone dipped as the telecoms giant upped full-year guidance despite a slide into the red and ongoing weakness in Germany. It now expects adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation and lease-related expenses to come in between 13.2bn and 13.4bn, and adjusted free cash flow of 2.8bn and 3bn. It had previously forecast for EBITDAaL of between 13bn and 13.3bn, and cash flow in the range of 2.6bn to 2.9bn.
Playtech reversed earlier gains despite saying that full-year profit was set to be ahead of analysts' expectations following better-than-expected trading from July to the end of October, driven by a continued strong performance in the Americas.
Watches of Switzerland also turned lower, despite hailing a strong first-half performance, with group revenue up 15%, and narrowing its FY27 guidance towards the upper end of the company's range.
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 10,751.59 -0.29%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 24,746.65 0.16%
techMARK (TASX) 6,205.87 0.22%
FTSE 100 - Risers
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 455.40p 4.07%
Investec (INVP) 644.50p 1.82%
Computacenter (CCC) 4,708.00p 1.77%
Metlen Energy & Metals (MTLN) 45.28p 1.69%
Lion Finance Group (BGEO) 13,480.00p 1.51%
British American Tobacco (BATS) 4,541.00p 1.43%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RKT) 5,656.00p 1.40%
JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 97.60p 1.37%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 456.70p 1.33%
Whitbread (WTB) 2,799.00p 1.30%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Fresnillo (FRES) 2,513.00p -4.74%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 3,234.00p -2.15%
Glencore (GLEN) 504.60p -2.10%
Shell (SHEL) 3,624.50p -2.07%
Anglo American (AAL) 3,818.00p -1.95%
Barratt Redrow (BTRW) 328.40p -1.91%
Experian (EXPN) 2,975.00p -1.72%
Kingfisher (KGF) 374.10p -1.71%
BT Group (BT.A) 209.90p -1.64%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 6,323.00p -1.45%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Ocado Group (OCDO) 356.40p 6.64%
Caledonia Investments (CLDN) 400.00p 5.54%
Applied Nutrition (APN) 300.00p 5.08%
Rosebank Industries NPV (ROSE) 331.00p 3.93%
TBC Bank Group (TBCG) 5,505.00p 3.19%
Diversified Energy Company (DI) (DEC) 989.00p 3.02%
Wetherspoon (J.D.) (JDW) 1,006.00p 2.92%
Eurowag Group (EWG) 107.00p 2.69%
RTW Biotech Opportunities Ltd (RTW) 2.46p 2.51%
XP Power Ltd. (DI) (XPP) 1,626.00p 2.39%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 476.20p -7.17%
Coats Group (COA) 79.25p -5.49%
4Imprint Group (FOUR) 4,066.00p -5.45%
Pan African Resources (PAF) 113.80p -5.32%
Ceres Power Holdings (CWR) 264.20p -4.62%
Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT) 201.00p -4.47%
Endeavour Mining (EDV) 4,099.00p -4.32%
NCC Group (NCC) 152.20p -4.04%
Clarkson (CKN) 4,392.00p -3.47%
Avon Technologies (AVON) 2,320.00p -2.73%
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