The FTSE 100 was marginally higher on Thursday as investors awaited further developments in the Middle East after the US said they are seeking a ‘grand bargain’ with Iran.
While the FTSE 100 showed signs of concern over developments in the Middle East, US stocks stormed to a record high overnight as investors piled back into key themes, including AI and quantum.
The S&P 500 closed at 7,022 and the NASDAQ at 24,016 – both record closing levels.
US stocks have rocketed higher this week while London’s leading index has settled into a tight range around 10,600 and lacked direction. The FTSE 100 was 0.1% higher at the time of writing on Thursday.
“For the most part, markets are still clinging to hopes of a resolution to the Middle East conflict, with a decent advance in the US and Asia followed up by more modest gains in Europe,” says Dan Coatsworth, head of markets at AJ Bell.
“Miners did some heavy lifting for the FTSE 100 after Chinese GDP growth hit its 5% target in the first quarter despite the disruption from the Iran war. This is good news for London’s resources contingent given China is a rapacious consumer of a raft of commodities.”
Melten Energy was back among the best performers, with a 3% gain as Rio Tinto rose 1.7%.
Tesco was comfortably higher and the standout corporate story on Thursday, releasing preliminary results that showed the group taking market shares and increasing revenues and profits.
“There’s a clear gap between sales and profit progression which tells us Tesco is executing well but it’s still having to spend to keep prices low and defend its market-leading position,” said Robinhood UK lead analyst Dan Lane.
“With inflation threatening to bite even more, UK consumer confidence is the lowest it has been since April 2025, which could well play into Tesco’s value credentials and own-label range, allowing loyalty benefits to matter even more.
“More broadly, a squeezed consumer is making the wallet-friendly competition even more attractive. Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons have been giving up market share in 2026, with the German discounters growing theirs. March stats show that, for the first time, Lidl is level-pegging with Morrisons after sitting 0.6ppts adrift this time last year, 1.2ppts the year before, 1.5ppts in 2023 and 3.2ppts in 2022. It means Tesco’s non-core business lines will have to pick up the slack created by investing in price to keep customers on board and out of the discounters’ stores.”
Entain was the FTSE 100’s top riser, adding around 5% after releasing an upbeat trading statement.