(Alliance News) - Stocks in London are set to open lower on Tuesday, after US forces launched fresh strikes in Iran against missile sites, threatening the fragile ceasefire.
IG says futures indicate the FTSE 100 to open down 63.5 points, 0.6%, at 10,402.76 on Tuesday. The index of London large-caps closed up 22.79 points, 0.2%, at 10,466.26 on Friday.
Financial markets in the UK and the US were closed on Monday.
Sterling was at USD1.3478 on Tuesday morning, up from USD1.3441 at the London equities close on Friday. Against the euro, sterling was unchanged at EUR1.1584.
The euro was higher at USD1.1629 from USD1.1603. Against the yen, the dollar was slightly lower at JPY158.99 versus JPY159.12.
US forces attacked missile sites in southern Iran and boats trying to lay mines, US Central Command said, as top Iranian negotiators arrived in Doha for talks to end the war.
"US forces conducted self-defense strikes in southern Iran today to protect our troops from threats posed by Iranian forces," Tim Hawkins, a US Central Command spokesman, said in a statement.
It gave no details of the attacks and said only that the targets included missile launch sites and boats trying to "emplace mines."
Brent oil was trading lower at USD98.28 a barrel on Tuesday morning from USD104.22 on Friday, but was up from USD96.26 on Monday.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that a deal with Iran was still possible despite new strikes.
"There were some talks going on in Qatar today, so we'll see if we can make progress. I think it's a lot of talking back and forth going on about specific language in the initial document, so it'll take a few days," Rubio told reporters in Jaipur during a visit to India.
"The president's expressed his desire to make it. He's either going to make a good deal or no deal," he said.
Meanwhile, UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves has told cabinet colleagues to award government contracts in shipbuilding, steel-making, energy infrastructure and artificial intelligence to British companies.
Procurement in those four areas will be recognised as "critical for national security", and under new guidance contracts for British industry will be prioritised "to protect our national security", a government spokesperson said.
UK shop price inflation edged higher in May, British Retail Consortium data showed on Tuesday.
The latest BRC-NIQ shop price monitor data covered the period from May 1 to May 7.
Annual shop price inflation increased to 1.2%, compared with a 1.0% rise in April. This was above the three-month average of 1.1%.
In the US on Friday, Wall Street ended higher, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.6%, the S&P 500 0.4% higher and the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.2%.
In Asia on Tuesday, the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo was down 0.2%. In China, the Shanghai Composite was 0.7% lower, while the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong was 0.2% higher. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney was 0.3% lower.
Gold was higher at USD4,529.00 an ounce early on Tuesday from USD4,520.92 late Friday.
In Tuesday's corporate calendar, first quarter results from B&Q owner Kingfisher are due, along with results for Atalaya Mining Copper, Nostrum Oil & Gas and Diaceutics.
In the economic calendar on Tuesday, there is PPI data for Spain along with the US house price index later.
By Michael Hennessey, Alliance News reporter
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