On Tuesday London’s top share only just avoided falling into the red due to geopolitical tensions weighing on the markets.
The FTSE 100 gained 5.74 points, or 0.08%, to close at 7,422.43 and fared better than the German Dax as it closed 0.38% lower whilst the French Cac was downy by 0.13%.
Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bel said, “Geopolitical tensions weighed on the markets on Tuesday after the US imposed new sanctions on Iran.
“Stocks across the UK, Europe and Asia took a dive, with investors switching their attention once again to gold as a safe-haven asset.”
Oil prices ticked up and a barrel of Brent Crude was trading at $65.32 up by 0.9%. Sterling dropped by 0.04% against the Euro to 1.117 and 0.15% vs the US dollar to 1.272.
Fiona Cincotta, senior market analyst at City Index said, “Pound traders are staying focused on the Conservative leadership race. Boris Johnson yesterday, firmly reiterated his plan to remove the UK from the EU deal or no deal.
“The only reason the pound didn’t fall further was thanks to the rising opposition that Boris is encountering.”
The largest FTSE 100 companies to drop were International Consolidated Arlines Group down 12.5p to 439.5p, Easyjet was down by 18.2p to 860.6p, NMC Health fell by 54p to 2,364p and Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust down 9.5p to 524p.
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