FTSE 100 Live: Stocks dip; Trump says Iran war ‘will end after midterms’

Welcome back to City AM’s FTSE 100 liveblog.

The UK’s blue-chip index shed as much as 0.4 per cent on Thursday morning, as Associated British Foods’ 11 per cent dip cancelled out modest gains from London’s oil majors and consumer giants like JD Sports and Whitbread.

Despite recent expectations that the Iran war is far from over – with investors bracing for a longer period of high prices and market uncertainty – US President Donald Trump has declared that he is ready to end the conflict, after the midterm elections.

Tehran will approach Washington with an end to the war “immediately after the midterms,” Trump told reporters on Wednesday night. “They’re desperate to try and affect the election so that we can get a nice weak group of people in there and leave them alone and let them have their nuclear weapon.”

The price of Brent crude – the international benchmark for oil – jumped above $100 per barrel on Wednesday for the first time since July. Oil prices rose nearly four per cent in the day, prompting fear among investors that the Bank of England and the Federal Reserve could look to hike interest rates.

Neil Wilson, UK investment strategist at Saxo, said the FTSE 100 has failed to live up to its “so-called” defensive attributes, tripping back to where it was in February.

He said: “Investors aren’t keen to chase these stock markets much higher for now. With inflation proving so stubborn that the Fed may hike next week there’s every chance things may get choppier from here.”

Investor’s attentions are turning to UK growth figures and US inflation statistics, both due at the end of this week, for the latest indication of how global economies are dealing with the war.

We’ll be bringing you the latest market updates and analysis.

This morning’s top stories:

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• Apple and Google defend safety records as UK clamps down on explicit teen content
• Sadiq Khan urged to end London’s e-bike ‘patchwork’
• Giving Neets jobs in hospitality would generate £2.3bn, Hilton claims