Thursday 27 August 2026 6:30 am
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Wednesday 26 August 2026 10:24 pm
Welcome back to City AM's FTSE 100 live blog (Yui Mok/PA Wire)
Welcome back to the City AM FTSE 100 liveblog.The UK’s blue chip index is set to fall on Thursday morning, according to futures from investment platform IG.The FTSE 100 finished broadly flat on Wednesday’s close, with JD Sports, IG and British American Tobacco among the index’s highest risers. The blue-chip index “was steady as it remained in sight of its recent all-time highs despite selling in BP and Shell on lower oil prices. “The winners in London could be found instead in the retail and aviation sectors on hopes of some progress towards resolving the Middle East crisis,” AJ Bell head of markets Dan Coatsworth said. Oil prices continued to fall amid reports that negotiations over a peace deal and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz were gaining pace. The price of Brent crude – the international benchmark for oil – fell about 1.3 per cent to just more than $87 per barrel.As Oman and Iran pursue a deal reopen the strait, President Donald Trump told Fox News that the vital shipping passage is already fully functional. In a bizarre rant, he said: “It’s a functioning Strait. Yes, every once in a while there’ll be a drone or a rocket or something shot, but it is a very functioning Strait. “A lot of oil is pouring out,” he added. The President claimed the waterway is “open” and had been stripped of mines despite continued attacks on ships.In the week’s most hotly-anticipated trading update, chipmaking giant Nvidia beat analysts’ expectations again. The firm more-than-doubled its sales in the second quarter to $96.2bn, smashing expectations of $92.2bn.But investors pounced on its 74 per cent gross margin guidance, lower than the 75 per cent hoped for by markets, triggering a post-close sell-off. We’ll be bringing you the latest market updates and analysis.This morning’s top stories:
