28th Sep 2026 06:55
(Alliance News) - Stocks in London are set to open higher on Monday, as oil prices rose after US President Donald Trump rejected an Iranian proposal for a seven-day truce that could have seen the Strait of Hormuz reopen.
IG says futures indicate the FTSE 100 to open 19.2 points higher, 0.2%, at 10,714.45 on Monday. The index of London large-caps closed up 0.1% at 10,695.25 on Friday.
Brent oil was trading at USD107.70 a barrel early Monday, up from USD106.21 late Friday.
Oil prices rose after Trump rejected an Iranian offer of a seven-day truce that Tehran said could lead to the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, a key route for global energy supplies.
Iran on Sunday stood firm on its conditions for reopening the waterway.
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran's proposal called for an end to hostilities across the Middle East, including in Lebanon, alongside the fulfilment of conditions contained in an earlier ceasefire agreement.
Those conditions include the release of frozen Iranian assets, the lifting of sanctions on Iranian oil and an end to the US naval blockade.
"Our conditions are clear, and any move toward reopening the Strait of Hormuz is contingent upon these conditions being fulfilled. We will not back down from them," Araghchi said on Sunday, according to state broadcaster IRIB.
"We have never closed the door to diplomacy or negotiations, but at the same time, we have never backed down from our rights," he added.
Trump said on Saturday that he had rejected the truce proposal. "They want to make a deal where they open the Strait immediately because they're losing so badly," he told reporters. "They want to make a deal and I think that's fine. I like making a deal too."
Meanwhile, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he had sent envoys around the world to push countries to economically isolate Iran, following new restrictions targeting Iranian airlines and banks.
"At my direction, teams were dispatched across the globe to engage with countries and demand action against the Iranian regime," Bessent said on X.
Sterling was quoted at USD1.3247 early Monday, higher than USD1.3238 at the London equities close on Friday. Against the euro, sterling rose to EUR1.1627 from EUR1.1616 a day prior.
The euro traded at USD1.1388 early Monday, lower than USD1.1396 late Friday. Against the yen, the dollar was quoted at JPY157.68 versus JPY157.36.
Back in the UK, Prime Minister Andy Burnham insisted he could deliver change for people across Britain despite severe economic headwinds, on the eve of his first Labour conference as prime minister.
Burnham acknowledged that he and Chancellor John Healey face a "challenging" set of circumstances at next month's Budget and said it was "crucial" to stabilise the public finances. The Iran war and wider global turmoil have pushed up borrowing costs and constrained the government's room for manoeuvre ahead of the October 28 fiscal event.
Burnham also said he was prepared to make unpopular choices and raise taxes to fund an NHS-style social care system in England, blaming the "cowardice" of previous generations of politicians for failing to "grasp the nettle" of reform.
He said nothing was off the table to fund the reforms, which would be put to voters at the next general election. However, the government remains constrained by Labour's manifesto commitments not to raise income tax, value-added tax or national insurance for workers.
Planning approvals for new homes in the UK declined to a 13-year low in June, new figures shared with The Sunday Times showed, the newspaper reported.
The number of homes receiving planning permission was 214,515 in the year to June, the lowest annual total since 2013 and down 8% in the past year alone.
UK Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander announced that Avanti West Coast services will be under public ownership from March next year.
Nationalisation will be supported by a plan to improve infrastructure, reduce delays and improve passenger experience, the UK government said.
Avanti West Coast is 70% owned by FirstGroup and 30% owned by Italian state-owned enterprise Trenitalia.
Meanwhile, Heathrow airport's third runway is set to be delayed by four years to 2039, according to The Times. Airport executives have told ministers that it is impossible to meet the previous 2035 deadline for the GBP49 billion infrastructure project, the newspaper reported on Saturday.
In the US on Friday, Wall Street ended higher, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.9%, the S&P 500 up 0.5% and the Nasdaq Composite also up 0.5%.
In Asia on Monday, the Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo fell 0.2%. In China, the Shanghai Composite was down 2.0%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong rose 0.6%. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney edged up 0.1%.
Gold was quoted at USD4,184.70 an ounce early Monday, sharply lower than USD4,282.86 on Friday.
China and the US agreed to establish a communication channel for artificial intelligence incidents following a summit between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Washington.
The two leaders discussed issues including AI, trade and the war in Iran, and confirmed plans to meet twice more this year at international summits in China and the US. The White House said on Friday that the two countries had agreed to establish a "bilateral communication channel" for AI incidents.
The agreement came alongside an extension of the US-China trade truce, providing more time for negotiations between the world's two largest economies.
However, analysts cautioned that significant disagreements remain. Daniel Russel of the Asia Society Policy Institute said that even as Trump and Xi "are making nice", their countries "remain locked in a bitter competition over trade, tech, Taiwan, defence, rare earths and industrial policy."
In Monday's corporate calendar, Christie Group, Likewise Group, SpaceandPeople, Tullow Oil and US Solar Fund report half-year results, while Redcentric and TheraCryf publish full-year results.
There are no major events scheduled in Monday's economic calendar.
By Eva Castanedo, Alliance News reporter
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