17:11 — FTSE 100 closes Wednesday on positive footing
London's FTSE 100 closed Wednesday's session up 16 points at 10,744, having touched an intraday high of 10,754.
The day's real action sat in gold and crypto.
Gold extended its rally to $4,552 an ounce, up 2.98% and its fifth straight session of gains.
Meanwhile, Bitcoin surged 6.26% to 68,732 whilst Ethereum jumped 9.27% to 2,094.
The dollar index fell 0.74% to 98.913 as US Treasury yields eased after the US Treasury doubled its buyback of long-dated government debt.
15:36 — FTSE 100 finds some support, climbing 26 point
Around an hour into Wall Street's positive session, London has, sort of, played catch-up.
The FTSE 100 stood at 10,753, up 26 points.
It comes as the price of gold is up 2.64% at $4,537, and the dollar softened, with the DXY dollar index slipping around 0.8%.
Gold continues to be the standout move of the day, extending its advance to 2.64% at $4,537.4, a third straight cycle of acceleration. The move comes against a backdrop of a softer dollar, with the DXY down 0.78%.
The continuing focus has mostly been on Middle East risks and the Strait of Hormuz, where Iran has maintained its closure stance, and Trump has said no talks with Tehran are planned, a standoff that has also kept Brent crude elevated near $90 a barrel.
In New York, Wall Street traded in mixed fashion with the Dow up 283 points at 53,626 whilst the S&P 500 added 29 points to 7,720 and the Nasdaq Composite slipped 4 points into negative territory at 26,285.
14:45 — Wall Street opens firmer, London tepid at best
Wall Street's open landed positively, with the S&P 500 up 22 points, or 0.29%, to 7714.26.
The Dow up 116 points, or 0.22%, to 53459.77, whilst the Nasdaq Composite added 21 points to 26310.67.
London didn't follow, with the FTSE 100 sitting at 10,723, now down 4 points.
14:01 — FTSE 100 sees a quick, shallow run - and its, again, flat
Having mounted a fleeting little rally, adding around 20 points to an intraday high of 10,753, London's FTSE 100 tempered back to being flat, at 10,727, as mid-August trading drifted towards the Wall Street open.
Premarket indicators point to a firmer open in New York, with the Dow called 0.6% higher, whilst the S&P 500 is seen up 0.51%.
13:10 — Wall Street pricing points higher as US futures edge up pre-open
London heads into Wall Street's session with the FTSE 100 essentially flat at 10727.94, having spent the morning climbing back from a 25-point loss tied to the UK's 2.9% July inflation print.
Wall Street benchmarks point higher ahead of Wednesday's open - albeit only a sliver!
The S&P 500 is indicated up 0.03% to 7,696, the Dow up 0.09% to 53,396, while the Nasdaq 100 is indicated marginally softer, down 0.19% to 29,436.
12:31 — FTSE steadies at 10,717 as Brent marked at $91.20
The FTSE 100 steadied and remained range-bound, down 11 points at 10,716.
Oil is doing more of the talking than equities, with no signs of easing in the Middle East
Brent crude is holding around $91.20, extending a run of gains that has now stretched to a fourth consecutive session as the Strait of Hormuz remains shut following Iran's rejection of talks with the US.
Deutsche Bank's commentary this morning described the broader backdrop as a rough 24 hours for markets, pointing to a chip-stock selloff and bond yields at multi-year highs alongside the Middle East headlines, a risk-off frame that helps explain why London's losses, while shallow, have proven sticky through the morning.
10:30 — Trainline drops 15% on CMA drip-pricing probe
Trainline (LSE:TRN) shares moved 15% lower on Wednesday, as the Competition and Markets Authority has opened an investigation under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act into how the company presents fees through its booking flow.
The train ticketing platform said it has "proactively engaged with the CMA over several months" and is taking steps to change how fees are presented, but the shares have dropped to 207.2p, down 14.73% on the session.
Nostrum Oil & Gas remains the session's sharpest faller, down 39.96% to 1.501p, tied to a Transaction Update & Tender Offer Supplement that builds on the bond tender extension the company disclosed earlier.
Elsewhere, the morning's gainers are holding their ground. Nuformix (LSE:NFX) has extended its advance to 35.29% on its NXP002 update, and Oxford Nanopore (LSE:ONT) has pushed further to 130.32p, up 6.64%, with the company's interim results citing "strong margin and EBITDA performance" supporting progress toward breakeven in FY27.
Ultimate Products (AIM:ULTP) has slipped 4.56% to 53.256p after confirming FY26 revenue landed in line with expectations despite a decline in the top line.
London's FTSE 100 has extended its retreat to 10712.82, to be down 15 points,
IG Group (LSE:IGG) is among the fallers, down 2.45% to 1,351p, alongside Ck Infrastructure (LSE:CKI) at 590p, off 3.28%.
09:50 — FTSE dips as UK inflation hits 2.9%, Kainos surges on profit beat
The FTSE 100 has turned negative, now down 6 points to 10,721.
It comes as UK inflation in focus, after new data showing a 2.9% increase in the prices basket for July, from 2.6%, adding further (not entirely unexpected) domestic pressure.
At the same time, persisting tensions Middle East tensions see the price of Brent crude above $90 a barrel.
Amongst the market pundits, Hargreaves Lansdown noted weaker labour-market conditions may temper the case for a Bank of England rate rise despite the sticky services inflation squeezing household budgets, while Saxo Markets' Neil Wilson argues the July rise should not on its own prompt a hike.
Whilst interactive investor's Richard Hunter pointed to another strand of unease, highlighting discomfort over government debt which he sees as weakening investor sentiment.
08:20 — FTSE 100 sees slow start; Nuformix soars and Oxford Nanopore edges higher
The FTSE 100 began the session quietly, at 10,729 the index was up just 2 points on the previous close.
It was all tumbleweeds, however, with more than half the index's constituents trading lower, in early trade, with the fallers spread across rental, resources and hotel names.
Elsewhere, stocks moving on news included Nuformix (LSE:NFX), up around 26% to 0.177p, on the back of an NXP002 development update.
Oxford Nanopore (LSE:ONT) added 2.5% to 125.25p, a session high, as its interim results point to strong margin and EBITDA performance and progress toward breakeven in the 2027 financial year. Chief executive Francis Van Parys said the company has been refining its view of the business since he joined.
Ithaca Energy (LSE:ITH) is up 2.31% to 257.4p after upgrading its dividend expectations after a stronger second half trading performance.
Beyond London, the session carries the weight of a fourth straight day of rising oil prices tied to the Strait of Hormuz standoff, with Brent up nearly half a per cent at $91.21.
08:00 — Ithaca Energy and other early headlines
A glance at the early headlines
Ithaca Energy lifted dividend expectations as it flagged a stronger first-half performance.
International Public Partnerships is disposing of nine UK PPP projects at a premium.
Tekcapital's Vesari has secured its twelfth US patent application.
Empire Metals has upgraded its mineral resource estimate at the Pitfield Titanium Project.
Malibu Life Holdings confirms its Placing and Open Offer, targeting up to $125 million, has been fully subscribed.
Oberon Investments has raised approximately £1.4 million through a new fundraising.
iFOREX warns trading has been considerably weaker than anticipated since its late-July update, with August running unusually subdued.
The full detail on this morning's news is in The Premarket Brief.
06:45 — FTSE 100 seen softer ahead of Wednesday's open
The FTSE 100 is seen softer ahead of Wednesday's open, with IG's early pre-market quote marked at 10,721, down 13.9 points from Tuesday's close.
It comes after Wall Street closed Tuesday lower, with the S&P 500 off 0.66% at 7,693, the Nasdaq Composite down a sharper 1.36% at 26,282 and the Dow Jones easing 0.15% to 53,377.
The move was led by a selloff among tech names, as well as climbing bond yields, which weighed on Tuesday's session.
In Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 tumbled 3.12% to 65,357.73 on Wednesday, tracking the Wall Street slide lower, its sharpest drop in the current run of overnight prints.
Swissquote, in its market commentary, flagged rising Middle East tensions, higher oil prices and long-term bond yields as the pressure points on expensive equity valuations, particularly the AI-linked names in US technology that have so far driven this year's rally.
Currency and commodity markets are calmer.
The dollar index is a touch softer at 99.542, gold has eased 0.57% to $4,395.20, and cable is marked at 1.3542 up 0.07%.
Brent crude is indicated 0.76% firmer at $90.42 a barrel.
Bitcoin is off 0.61% at $64,289 and Ethereum down 0.27% at $1,911.30, both drifting rather than breaking.
