London pre-open: Stocks to fall as oil rises after US and Iran exchange strikes

(Sharecast News) - London stocks were set to fall at the open on Wednesday as oil prices shot up after the US and Iran traded strikes overnight.

The FTSE 100 was called to open around 13 points lower. At 0730 BST, Brent crude was up 3.1% at $76.48 a barrel and West Texas Intermediate was also 3.1% higher, at $72.64.

Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote, said: "Tensions in the Middle East have increased a notch after Iran attacked ships in the Strait of Hormuz, to which the US responded with retaliatory strikes.

"What a peaceful peace negotiation period!

"Iran is reportedly laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz, which would force ships to pay for additional security even after a peace deal is signed. That would be a terrible long-lasting consequence of an unnecessary war. I won't comment on the geopolitical dimension of the story, but the peace talks are in jeopardy when you add the nuclear ambitions of both sides to the mix - the US demanding that Iran scrap its nuclear programme, and Iran seeing little incentive to do so after being so heavily attacked by the US-Israel duo."

In corporate news, Hammerson said it has sold �69m of noncore assets, including several central Dublin holdings and another noncore investment, taking its total disposals for 2026 to �75m after a final Leeds sale in January.

The Dublin sites were bought by Transport Infrastructure Ireland to support the city's planned Metrolink rail system. It has kept other holdings in the Irish capital which it says offer strategic options for development, partnerships and future value creation, alongside its recent move to take full ownership of the Ilac shopping centre.

Housebuilder Vistry said it expects to report a firsthalf pretax loss of around �30m, after cashgeneration measures and weaker partnerfunded volumes significantly weighed on profitability.

Excluding those actions, Vistry said underlying pretax profits would have been about �20m. It also said it expects FY26 adjusted pretax profits to be in line with current consensus estimates, at around �200m, excluding any impact from its ongoing CEO review.

Senior said in a very brief statement that its full-year trading performance was set to be ahead of the expectations set out in April.

The manufacturer of high technology components and systems is due to release its results for the half year ending 30 June on Monday 3 August.