London open: FTSE steady despite growing US-Iran peace hopes

(Sharecast News) - London stocks were steady in early trade on Friday despite growing hopes of a peace deal between the US and Iran.

At 0827 BST, the FTSE 100 was flat at 10,430.99. At the same time, Brent crude was down 1.3% at $92.52 a barrel following a report late on Thursday that the US and Iran have reached an agreement on a 60-day memorandum of understanding to extend the ceasefire and launch negotiations on Tehran's nuclear programme.

Citing two US officials and a regional source involved in the mediation efforts, Axios said Trump has yet to give his final approval, while Iran has also not confirmed its acceptance.

Speaking to reporters at Joint Base Andrews on Thursday, Vice President JD Vance said the US was "very close" to finalising an agreement with Iran but that there were still a few sticking points, such as "a couple of issues on the nuclear stuff, the highly enriched stockpile and also the question of enrichment".

Richard Hunter, head of markets at Interactive Investor, said: "Reports suggested that the US and Iran were on the cusp of agreeing a framework which would result in a 60-day memorandum of understanding to extend the ceasefire.

"While this is a potentially promising development, the two main sticking points of Iran's nuclear programme and a largely closed Strait of Hormuz are still at the centre of negotiations. In addition, while the oil price drifted lower on the news, it is widely accepted that any return to normal oil supplies will take some time even after a final agreement."

Corporate news was scarce but Ocado surged after agreeing to enter a partnership with Asda to develop the latter's online business across the UK with the Ocado Smart Platform.

No financial details were disclosed but Ocado said the focus of the partnership will be to quickly replace and upgrade Asda's existing ecommerce infrastructure, with Ocado's solutions to be rolled out across both stores and dark stores from 2027.

Ocado and Asda plan to deploy Ocado's end-to-end solutions across Asda ecommerce operations. These include Ocado's front-end (webshop), In-Store Fulfilment, and software to support last mile planning and route efficiency.

Ocado said the transaction is not expected to have a material financial impact in FY26.

Drugmaker AstraZeneca ticked higher as it said that Imfinzi has been approved in the US as part of the first immunotherapybased combination for patients with highrisk, nonmuscleinvasive bladder cancer who have not previously been treated with Bacillus Calmette-Gu�rin.