3rd Mar 2026 06:56
(Alliance News) - Stocks in London are set to open lower on Tuesday, with oil and gold prices remaining elevated as geopolitical tensions remain high.
US President Donald Trump hosts Germany's Friedrich Merz on Tuesday for his first visit with a foreign leader since joining Israel in strikes on Iran that have dragged the Middle East into war.
The long-scheduled White House meeting was supposed to focus on the war in Ukraine and rocky EU-US trade relations, part of a wider effort to salvage frayed transatlantic ties. But Trump's signal that airstrikes against Iran could go on for weeks has upended the global agenda, with Tehran striking back against US bases and allies in the region.
IG says futures indicate the FTSE 100 to open down 62.0 points, 0.6% on Tuesday. The index of London large-caps closed down 1.2% at 10,780.11 on Monday.
Sterling was quoted at USD1.3362 early Tuesday, slightly higher than USD1.3360 at the London equities close on Monday.
The euro traded at USD1.1665 early Tuesday, lower than USD1.1672 late Monday. Against the yen, the dollar was quoted lower at JPY157.26 versus JPY157.73.
In the US on Monday, Wall Street ended mixed, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.2%, the S&P 500 up marginally, and the Nasdaq Composite up 0.4%.
In Asia on Tuesday, the Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo was down 3.3%. In China, the Shanghai Composite was down 1.5%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was down 0.8%. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney closed down 1.3%.
Gold was quoted at USD5,312.76 an ounce early Tuesday, higher than USD5,288.00 on Monday.
Brent oil was trading at USD79.90 a barrel early Tuesday, higher than USD77.92 late Monday.
"Crucially, though, the Iranians have signalled that oil infrastructure of countries within the Gulf are not targets of their military strikes," Pepperstone's Michael Brown commented, "while the Strait of Hormuz remains open, even if the majority of tankers are at a standstill nearby, awaiting confirmation they will receive clear passage, as well as appropriate insurance coverage.
"All that allowed crude benchmarks to pare around a third of the opening gap higher, and for Brent to pullback beneath the key USD80bbl mark, as some degree of the extreme risk premium priced at Sunday's open was removed."
In Tuesday's corporate calendar, there are full-year results from several companies, including Intertek, Greggs and XP Power.
In the economic calendar on Tuesday, the UK has grocery market share data, and the eurozone has flash consumer price index inflation data.
By Emma Curzon, Alliance News reporter
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