- FTSE 100 up 188 points to 10,364
- Oil falls after comments from US and Iran on ending war
- Berkeley plunges on plan to stop land buying
- PM Starmer says govt working on cost of living plan
5.30pm: Winning day
Optimism conflict in the Middle East will soon be resolved saw global stocks move higher, with the FTSE 100 gaining 188 points at 10,364.
“Markets still seem to be betting on a resolution to the war and a reopening of the Straits of Hormuz. But with the key waterway still closed and neither side prepared to talk it seems difficult to envisage a return to a complete ‘risk-on’ environment,” IG chief market analyst Chris Beauchamp said.
“It is impossible to determine how much of the bounce that kicked off on Monday is from genuine dip buying or just the quarter-end/new quarter positioning. The Dow might be back to where it was a week ago but the crisis is still in full flow.”
4.24pm: Top of the world, M&A
UK takeover activity started at a brisk pace in the first quarter of 2026, according to the latest calculations from broker Peel Hunt.
There were 13 live bids worth £21 billion in the first quarter, with both corporate and financial buyers remain active.
A year ago, the broker counted 15 live bids worth £9 billion.
The broker said the “fast pace” of deals comes despite rising geopolitical uncertainty, with most transactions continuing even as conflict in the Middle East weighs on sentiment.
Activity has been broad-based, with bids spanning the FTSE 100 (Beazley, Schroders, British Land), FTSE 250 (Senior) and smaller companies (CAB Payments, Kitwave and Amedeo Air Four).
4.14pm: Strong gains in Europe
With a quarter of an hour to go of Wednesday trading, London's blue chips are up 1.65%, lagging counterparts across the Channel, where the Madrid and Milan benchmarks are up over 3%, while those in Frankfurt and Paris are up 2.7% and 2.1%.
European gains are being led by defence stocks, with Rheinmetall, Renk, Hensoldt and Leonardo all sharply higher as the sector extends its strong run. Babcock is the highest placed London representative, up over 9%, while Rolls-Royce, Chemring, Melrose, Qinetic, BAE Systems are all up over 4%, with Avon Technologies just below that.
The rally is also seen in travel and cyclicals, with Lufthansa echoing the IAG rise in London, and other include Delivery Hero and Thyssenkrupp.
Top riser on the FTSE 250 is Raspberry Pi again, up another 13%, making it 62% in the past two days.
3.31pm: Markets pricing de-escalation, but 'too premature'?
Markets are pricing in what they see as de-escalation in the Iran war, with stocks extending their gains from the day before, while crude oil, the dollar and bond yields slip.
"Yet it still feels a touch premature," says market analyst Fawad Razaqzada at Forex.com.
Reports suggesting Iranian officials may be open to dialogue, coupled with Donald Trump stating the US could bring the conflict to an end within two to three weeks have given risk assets "a bit of breathing room, but there are still some fairly big gaps in the story", he says.
"The key one remains the Strait of Hormuz. Yes, we’ve seen a pullback in crude, but Brent holding around $100 a barrel tells you the market isn’t entirely convinced yet."
Trump has been quite clear that reopening Hormuz will not be part of any deal he agrees, with Iran officials in a rare agreement on this.
"It’s hard to see oil sustaining a move below $100 without a clearer timeline," says Razaqzada. "Until then, dips are likely to be shallow in oil prices."
Waves of missiles fired out of Iran and Trump's post about blasting Iran "back to the Stone Ages" is keeping tensions elevated.
Iran has also gone a step further by naming 17 American companies as legitimate military targets, including Apple, Microsoft, Google, Meta, Tesla, Boeing and JPMorgan Chase, and has warned staff at regional offices to evacuate ahead of potential strikes.
"That changes the situation quite a bit, as the implications on insurance costs, supply chain risks, and corporate exposure across the Middle East are at risk," says Razaqzada/
Meanwhile, the energy industry is "starting to show tangible strain", further limiting any downside in oil prices in the near term, with the International Energy Agency chief Fatih Birol warning of a shortage of jet fuel and diesel, which is already impacting Asia and likely to reach Europe by April to May.
Birol also flagged that more than 12 million barrels per day of supply have been disrupted, alongside damage to around 40 key energy assets in the region.
"Put all of that together, and it’s clear why oil isn’t collapsing despite the market’s attempt to lean into de-escalation. There’s simply too much uncertainty, both in terms of supply disruption and geopolitical escalation, for prices to meaningfully reset lower just yet."
2.54pm:Wall Street opens higher, FTSE gains trimmed
US stocks have opened higher, extending the rally from overnight.
The Nasdaq is up 0.9%, while both Dow Jones and S&P 500 are up 0.5%.
Chip stocks are the main engine for the Nasdaq with Western Digital, Micron, Marvell and AMD all higher as the sector rebounds strongly.
The rally is broadening out to tech more widely, with Alphabet, ARM and Applied Materials advancing alongside infrastructure and industrial names like Axon and Ferrovial.
Gains for the FTSE 100 have been trimmed to below 150 points, from over 200 earlier, with bigger losses for BP and Shell the key.
As well as Berkeley's 11% decline, BP is down 4.9% and Shell is off 3.6%.
Other fallers include British American Tobacco and Imperial Brands, Rightmove, Unilever and Coca-Cola Europacific.
2.12pm: Trump says Iran 'asks for ceasefire', bombing to continue
Donald Trump has posted that Iran has asked for a ceasefire.
The US President posted on his social media platform: "Iran’s new regime president, much less radicalized and far more intelligent than his predecessors, has just asked the United States of America for a casefire!
"We will consider when Hormuz Strait is open, free, and clear. Until then, we are blasting Iran into oblivion or, as they say, back to the Stone Ages!!!"
Oil prices are little changed, with Brent standing at around $102 a barrel, though this is down from $107 around this point yesterday.
Prediction market traders are pricing just a 22% chance of the Strait of Hormuz returning to normal by the end of the month, with the probability collapsing from around 80% in mid-March.
1.55pm: Builders and Trustpilot upgraded
Some broker notes worth flagging.
RBC Capital Markets has dished out some upgrades on housebuilders Barratt Redrow and Berkeley Group, while slashing price targets across the sector by an average of 25%.
The upgrades come against a backdrop of sweeping estimate reductions, with analysts at the Canadian bank cutting their sector-wide volume forecasts by 2.5%, 6% and 10% for 2026, 2027 and 2028 respectively.
Panmure Liberum has upgraded Trustpilot Group after newly disclosed retention statistics reinforced the broker's confidence in the company's enterprise-focused growth strategy.
And there are a range of opinions on Unilever foods spin-off, including Deutsche Bank acknowledging that "in the long run the Foods and HPC business needed to separate", but "a large question mark over timing".
In the analyst's view, the deal is "not compelling value" for Unilever shareholders, "but it might just be the least worst option."
JPMorgan has turned more constructive on European utilities, highlighting SSE and Centrica among its preferred names as higher commodity prices and geopolitical tensions give the sector a 'halo effect'.
1.08pm: Dollar weakens
The pound is up 0.7% at $1.332 and the euro is up 0.4% at $1.16.
The US dollar has been, along with crude oil, "the biggest casualty of President Trump’s ‘peace dividend’," says market analyst David Morison at Trade Nation.
"The idea that the US military could be out of the Middle East in the next two-to-three weeks saw the dollar dump against all the other majors."
The continuation of the move this morning as the dollar index extended its losses for a second consecutive session, dropping to 99.4 from 100.6 on Monday, its best level since last May.
The dollar had been a major beneficiary of Middle Eastern hostilities, says Morrison, soaring as investors bought up dollars in a flight to safety, spurning previous havens such as precious metals, US Treasuries and currencies such as the Japanese yen and Swiss franc.
"It finally looked as if the [dollar index] had broken decisively above long-term resistance at 100.00 thereby signalling that the US dollar may have finally put in a bottom after a dismal twelve months.
"But it now looks as if the dollar bulls will have to sit on their towels and hope for a different signal to indicate that it’s safe to go back in the water.
"President Trump’s remarks reinforced expectations that US strategic objectives had largely been achieved and contributed to a shift in risk sentiment across global markets.
"But this could all unravel as quickly as it began. Traders will be paying close attention as Mr Trump addresses the world about the war at 01:00 GMT Thursday morning."
12.13pm: FTSE 100 up nearly 200 points
Just after midday, the FTSE 100 is up nearly 200 points, with strong gains also seen around Europe's major stock market indices.
Gains for the London index are led by Compass Group, up 6.9% (it was early showing a loss of almost 100% due to a glitch as its trading currency was changed from GB pennies to US dollars).
Elsewhere, there is strength in airlines and related stocks, with Rolls-Royce and IAG up 6.5% and 5.2% due to hopes for more flights to the Middle East and lower fuel prices if the Iran war ends soo.
Miners are also remained firmly bid, with Anglo American, Antofagasta, Fresnillo and Endeavour Mining all higher as gold, silver and copper prices are supported for similar reasons. Lenders Barclays, Lloyds, HSBC and NatWest are advancing too.
There are 17 shares in the red, led by Berkeley, down 14% after its warning that profits will be substantially lower over the next four years. Rightmove is also down 3.7%.
Unilever is down 2.1% as many analysts opine about its food spin-off. JPMorgan said, for example, that it was a "milestone transformation", yet the market is wrestling with "value creation and a complex deal structure" but it thinks "the shares have been overly punished".
BP and Shell are acting as a bit of a handbrake, down 1.6% and 1%.
Looking across the Atlantic, US stock futures are pointing higher ahead of the open, with the Nasdaq up 0.9%, and the Dow Jones and S&P 500 rising 0.7% as markets extends yesterday's relief rally on hopes of de-escalation in the Middle East.
11.27am: Gold 'find a new floor'
Gold is pushing higher again, with prices jumping to around $4,730 an ounce as markets latch onto renewed hopes of de-escalation in the Middle East.
SP Angel analyst John Meyer notes the rebound follows a sharp sell-off at the start of the war when "leveraged positions were liquidated".
He notes the shake-out has “cleaned out speculative positions”, with ETF holdings falling sharply.
Meyer says that confidence in the dollar has been eroded by an erratic White House, while the US hitting both Iran and Venezuela, this has targeted unofficial Chinese "interests" as both were major sources of Chinese crude oil.
"We consider continued jostling for power between China and the US as a major tailwind to gold prices, with the PBoC continuing to diversify its foreign reserves away from Treasuries in favour of gold.
"Geopolitical tensions are adding to concerns over unsustainable fiscal deficits, with increased defence spending adding budgetary pressures to G7 governments.
"Gold seems to have found a new floor over $4,000/oz, which should support a continued rerating of gold mining and developer equities going forward."
10.39am: Starmer on cost of living and Hormuz plans
In a press conference in Downing Street, Keir Starmer has said that the government is working on a plan to help with the cost of living.
“We will continue to stand up for the British national interest, and we continue to do what we must to guide our country calmly through this storm,” he says, noting that energy bills are coming down today, 1 April, as part of measures announced at the Budget, and will stay at this level until the end of June.
But he says "the most effective way we can support the cost of living in Britain is to push for de-escalation in the Middle East, and a reopening of the strait of Hormuz, which is such a vital route for energy".
As well as the Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper, Chancellor Reeves and Defence Secretary John Healey meeting counterparts in the G7 and in the Middle East in recent weeks, the PM says the UK has now "brought together 35 nations around our statement of intent to push as one for maritime security across the Gulf".
Cooper will host a meeting bringing those nations together this week, he adds, "where we will assess all viable diplomatic and political measures that we can take to restore freedom of navigation, guarantee the safety of trapped ships and seafarers, and resume the movement of vital commodities".
He also talks about the need for closer ties with Europe, adding that a new summit with the EU will be announced soon, "not just ratify existing commitments made at last year’s summit" but to agree a "more ambitious, closer economic cooperation, closer security cooperation".
10.26am: PMIs 'likely to get worse' in coming months
The drop in the manufacturing PMI reflected surging geopolitical uncertainty and a jump in energy prices, but, "we think the activity indicators of the manufacturing PMI point to activity slowing, rather than collapsing", says Elliott Jordan-Doak, economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics.
A headline manufacturing PMI above 50 points to activity rising in March, but the output index dipped to 49.2 from 52.5, the first below-50 reading since last September, which he says is consistent with manufacturing activity falling by around 0.3% three-months-on-three-months.
Forward-looking balances of the manufacturing PMI deteriorated in March, he notes, but a number of upward revisions to the sub-indices "suggest that the hit to sentiment from the war in Iran remains contained, for now", though hiring sentiment was hit, with the employment balance falling to 46.8 in March, from 49.1 in February.
"All told, we think the activity indicators of the manufacturing PMI point to activity slowing, rather than collapsing.
"But we expect sentiment to fall further in the coming months as the surge in energy prices feeds into activity."
Prolonged disruption to oil supplies and supply chains "will continue to put upward pressure on input prices, which will feed into output prices, hitting demand. So, we expect the PMI to grind lower over the coming months."
9.53am: Topps off
Topps Tiles shares are off almost 7% as first-half sales stuttered in a declining home improvement market, with the tile retailer saying it will close 23 underperforming shops to cut costs.
Revenue for the six months to late March were broadly flat year on year, with like-for-like sales up 0.1%, with growth moderating in the second quarter.
To offset cost inflation and weaker consumer sentiment, Topps is closing some stores and cutting costs across its estate and head office, which it expects to weigh on revenue but improve margins through efficiency gains.
9.38am: Manufacturing PMI falls as expected
The UK manufacturing PMI softened to 51 for March, below the 51.4 'flash' estimate and down from 51.7 in February.
Data was collected between March 12 and 26.
It was the first contraction of UK manufacturing output in six months, says Rob Dobson, director at S&P Global Market Intelligence, which compiles the survey, reflecting the war in the Middle East and ongoing concerns about inflation and domestic economic policy.
"The impact of the war also caused noticeable shifts in the cost and supply chain backdrops," he says, with delivery times lengthened to the greatest extent since mid-2022, while the acceleration in input price inflation was the steepest since the UK's withdrawal from the European Exchange Rate Mechanism in 1992.
"The resulting high-cost environment and shortages of inputs were also factors stymieing production volumes. “The darker economic and geopolitical backdrop is also weighing on business confidence and hiring trends.
"Optimism about the year ahead has slumped to a six month low and the latest round of job cuts is the deepest since last September.
"The one possible positive is that, despite rising at a slower rate, the trend in new order inflows held up better than production. This suggests that the drop in production is currently more of a supply issue than one caused by an outright downturn in demand, though it’s hard to see how demand can prove resilient in the face of current high energy prices and economic uncertainty unless there’s a swift resolution to the war in the Middle East."
9.24am: 'Hormuz will not open'
Stocks have come back a little in the last few minutes after some headlines out of the Middle East, including that Iranian drones have hit an Amazon data centre in Bahrain.
There were also reports of comments from Iran’s parliament that: "The Strait of Hormuz will not open. We have not held any negotiations, and we will not hold them."
Brent crude has pared some of its losses, now back to $101.70 a barrel from below $99 a short while ago.
9.05am: Supermarket bosses sit down with Chancellor
Shares in Tesco and Sainsbury opened higher but have dropped as Rachel Reeves met the chief executives of the UK's biggest supermarkets to assess the risk of food price rises and supply shortages stemming from the Middle East conflict.
Tesco shares were up 1.7% and Sainsbury's 1.2% as the chancellor sat down with the two grocers alongside Morrisons to gauge the potential impact on household costs in the coming months.
A Treasury source described the session as a fact-finding exercise aimed at identifying supply squeezes caused by the conflict and understanding its likely effect on the cost of living.
Shares have dipped in recent minutes, with Tesco now in the red.
⚡£117 on average coming off energy bills
???? Fuel Duty freeze extended
???? 450,000 children to be lifted out of poverty
???? A payrise for over 2 million people
???? Prescription charges frozen again
This is a government for working people. pic.twitter.com/0lH3kyewnr
— Rachel Reeves (@RachelReevesMP) April 1, 2026
8.28am: Oil below $100
Brent crude oil has fallen below $100 a barrel now, down 4%, while US WTI has dropped by a similar amount to below $98 a barrel.
There are reports that the United Arab Emirates is preparing to help allies open the Strait of Hormuz.
European markets are surging higher, with the London benchmark's 1.7% gain almost put in the shade by gains of 2.8% in Frankfurt and 2.3% in Paris.
A "coiled spring" has been unleashed, says market analyst Richard Hunter at Interactive Investoras, with investors seeing "clear light at the end of the tunnel for an end to the hostilities in the Middle East".
"With a mountain of cash reportedly on the sidelines, investors had been waiting for a trigger to put the money to work."
While stocks have jumped, "the damage is far from repaired", says Hunter, with levels "still below those at the outbreak of the conflict".
The S&P 500 suffered its worst monthly performance in March since 2022, shedding more than 5%, which would have been over 7% were it not for the strong final session, with the Dow Jones and Nasdaq down by a similar amount.
8.15am: FTSE soars 180 points at open
The FTSE 100 has soared 180 points higher to 10,356.5 in April's opening trades.
Top of the risers are copper miner Antofagasta and engine maker Rolls-Royce, up 7.1% and 6.7% respectively.
Babcock has jumped 6% after its announcement on MoD talks, while British Airways owner IAG, and miners Anglo American and Fresnillo are all up over 5%.
Financial sector names including Barclays, St James's Place, Lloyds and Standar Chartered are all up 3.9%-4.8%.
7.56am: Babcock and MoD agree bridging agreement as long-term deal talks continue
Babcock International PLC (LSE:BAB) has bagged a six-month extension to its naval support contract with the Ministry of Defence.
The FTSE 100 defence contractor said this is a bridging agreement, put in place as its five-year Future Maritime Support Programme contract ended on 31 March and will run while negotiations on a longer-term deal are finalised.
Chief executive David Lockwood said the agreement "reinforces our joint intention to move to a new long-term agreement that will see even more investment".
7.36am: Berkeley halts land purchases
Berkeley Group Holdings PLC (LSE:BKG) plans to pause new land purchases and slow investment as it adapts its strategy to a weaker housing market and rising regulatory pressures.
The housebuilder said it still expects to deliver pre-tax profit of £450 million and net cash of around £300 million for the 2026 financial year, in line with guidance earlier this month.
But as higher costs, tighter regulation and weaker consumer confidence have made new developments less attractive, it "does not believe it can make its required rate of return" on new land acquisitions.
7.28am: Torrid month of March has potentially positive end
"What had been a torrid month of March for markets ended on a positive note yesterday," says Deutsche Bank macro strategist Peter Sidorov, with the S&P 500 posting its best day since last May.
He says this came on the back of "comments by US and Iranian officials drove hopes that an end to the Iran war could be coming closer into view", with the increased optimism boosting a variety of asset classes, including bonds and gold, which has climbed back above $4,700 an ounce from around $4,500 late on Monday.
Oil markets saw "more modest relief given still very uncertain prospects for the Strait of Hormuz".
He notes that the biggest trigger for the rally came shortly after the European close as Iran’s state news agency reported Iranian President Pezeshkian saying that Iran is willing to end the war but only if there are guarantees “to prevent the recurrence of aggression”.
Sidorov adds: "While it wasn’t clear if these comments represented a material change in Iran’s position – indeed, in large part they reiterated demands floated by Tehran last week – they helped drive an extension of the rally that emerged amid signals that the US may be looking for offramps out of the war."
That saw President Trump say last night that he foresees ending the war "within two weeks, maybe three" but suggested that "we’re not going to have anything to do with" what happens in the Strait of Hormuz, adding to other recent comments that the US does not see reopening Hormuz as necessary to end the war.
Iran’s foreign minister told Aljazeera yesterday that while there has been an exchange of messages with the US, these were not "negotiations".
Turning to economic data, Sidorov flags that the new month brings new PMI surveys around the world, with China's manufacturing PMI coming in at 50.8 in March, down from 52.1 in February as rising oil prices contributed to increased cost pressures, while Japan's Tankan survey improved for a fourth consecutive quarter. The UK PMIs are due at 9.30am.
7.16am: FTSE 100 set for a flier as US and Iran eye end to war
The FTSE 100 is predicted to get off to a flier on Wednesday as oil prices continued to fall overnight after comments from the US and Iran stoked hope of an end to the war soon.
A rise of over 110 points is indicated for London's blue-chip index on the futures market on the first day of April, adding to the 48.5 points accrued yesterday when it finished at 10,176.45.
US stocks rallied sharply overnight, with the Nasdaq surging 3.8%, the S&P 500 rose 2.9% and the Dow Jones climbed 2.5%. The last day of March was Wall Street's best session since last May.
The gains came after Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian indicated that the regime may be open to negotiations to end the conflict if there are guarantees "to prevent the recurrence of aggression", and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio saying he "can see the finish line".
The White House posted last night that President Trump will address the nation at 9pm EST today "to provide an important update on Iran".
Brent crude oil has dropped to $102.50 a barrel, from $107 yesterday afternoon and above $116 on Monday.