FTSE 100 Live: Stocks down on election day; oil back below $100 as Iran deal hangs in balance

Good morning and welcome back to the City AM liveblog.

It’s local election day in the UK and Keir Starmer’s premiership is hanging in the balance as his Labour Party prepares to take a drubbing in council boroughs across the country.

Gilt yields rose at their fastest rate earlier this week as the market prepares for the economic upheaval that could follow if Starmer is defenestrated.

The FTSE 100 is down 0.9 per cent at 10,349, but the pound has managed a cool election day, gaining 0.15 per cent on the dollar.

After a relief rally on Wednesday, some tensions are returning to the market as Donald Trump threatens to give the American military the order to restart its bombing of the Middle East if Iran doesn’t “give what has been agreed to”.

Trump has said should Iran follow through on a deal the war “will be at an end” and the Strait of Hormuz will be “OPEN TO ALL, including Iran”.

The mixed messages have sent Brent crude – the international bench mark for oil prices – back over the $100 mark, and back down again.

It follows hopes that the conflict in the Middle East might finally be drawing to a close bringing a much-needed relief rally to global stocks.

Trump said on Wednesday that the US would hit pause on its naval escort mission in the Strait of Hormuz as negotiations kicked off once more.

Iran’s top negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf has accused Washington of seeking Tehran’s surrender through using the blockade to cause “economic pressure and media manipulation”.

But the Iranian foreign minister has said Iran is considering the US plan for a peace deal.

The US markets jumped on Thursday’s open, buoyed by Iran optimism, as the Nasdaq jumped 0.3 per cent to 25,906.

Here’s a few of our top headlines on Thursday

• Tony Travers: London local election result could trigger housebuilding slump
• Samsung workers threaten strike over AI profits as market value hits $1 trillion
• Wetherspoon boss Tim Martin clashes with Ryanair over airport breakfast booze
• Construction output tumbles as builders hit by surging costs and red tape
• Grosvenor estate: Ministers don’t get ‘basic economics’