17th Mar 2026 06:55
(Alliance News) - Stocks in London are set to open slightly lower on Tuesday, as investors continue to focus on developments in the oil market as the war in the Middle East continues.
IG says futures indicate the FTSE 100 to open down 7.8 points, 0.1%, at 10,309.89 on Tuesday. The index of London large-caps closed up 56.54 points, 0.6%, at 10,317.69 on Monday.
Sterling was at USD1.3286 on Tuesday morning, down slightly from USD1.3293 at the London equities close on Monday. The euro was marginally lower at USD1.1477 from USD1.1480. Against the yen, the dollar was slightly higher at JPY159.36 versus JPY159.34.
Investors were again watching developments in the Middle East closely.
US President Donald Trump criticised US allies for their lukewarm response to his call to help protect shipping in the Strait of Hormuz during the US war against Iran.
Trump called for more "enthusiasm" from other countries, as he said he believed France and Britain would somewhat reluctantly get involved.
Trump said a number of countries, that he did not name, had committed to help secure the waterway, a critical choke point for the global oil trade, but lashed out at others who were not "enthusiastic."
The EU has ruled out participation in a potential military operation, while German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Germany would not get involved.
Brent oil was trading higher at USD103.79 a barrel on Tuesday morning from USD102.83 on Monday.
Pepperstone analyst Michael Brown said: "Three weeks into conflict in the Middle East, it is still the case that markets at large are taking their lead from developments in the energy space, and that that distribution of potential outcomes is so wide that pinning a defined timescale on potential de-escalation, or normalisation of flows through Hormuz, remains near-impossible."
Meanwhile, Trump asked China to delay his summit with Xi Jinping by around a month while he deals with the war in the Middle East.
Trump had been due to visit Beijing from March 31 to April 2 to reset ties with China.
In the US on Monday, Wall Street ended higher, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.8%, the S&P 500 1.0% higher and the Nasdaq Composite advanced 1.2%.
In Asia on Tuesday, the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo was down 0.1%. In China, the Shanghai Composite was 0.8% lower, while the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong gained 0.1%. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney was 0.4% higher.
Nvidia Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang said he expects the artificial intelligence chip firm to bring in at least USD1 trillion in revenue through next year.
Huang made the ramped-up revenue forecast while outlining Nvidia's latest innovations for a packed audience at the opening of its annual developers conference in Silicon Valley.
"I see, through 2027, at least a trillion dollars (in revenue)," Huang said. "I am certain that computing demand will be higher than that."
A year earlier, at the same event, Huang had projected revenue of half that much.
The revenue is expected to be driven by demand for its premium graphics processing units, which Huang touted as delivering high performance while reining in the cost of delivering AI services.
Shares in Nvidia closed up 1.6% at USD183.19 in New York on Monday.
Gold was higher at USD5,012.50 an ounce early on Tuesday from USD4,983.55 late Monday.
Tuesday's economic calendar has economic sentiment data from Germany and the eurozone, with pending home sales figures for the US later.
On Tuesday's UK corporate calendar are full-year results from a number of companies including Prudential, Travis Perkins and Harworth Group.
By Michael Hennessey, Alliance News reporter
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