London pre-open: Stocks to gain, oil down as Trump cancels planned attack on Iran

(Sharecast News) - London stocks were set to gain at the open on Tuesday after Donald Trump said he was cancelling a planned US military attack on Iran.

The FTSE 100 was called to open around 20 points higher.

In a post on Truth Social, the US president said on Monday: "I have been asked by the Emir of Qatar, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, and the President of the United Arab Emirates, Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, to hold off on our planned Military attack of the Islamic Republic of Iran, which was scheduled for tomorrow, in that serious negotiations are now taking place, and that, in their opinion, as Great Leaders and Allies, a Deal will be made, which will be very acceptable to the United States of America, as well as all Countries in the Middle East, and beyond.

"This Deal will include, importantly, NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS FOR IRAN."

Oil prices fell after the post and by 0717 BST on Tuesday, Brent crude was down 1.8% at $110.04 a barrel.

In the same post, however, Trump insisted the US remains ready to act and is "prepared to go forward with a full, large scale assault of Iran, on a moment's notice, in the event that an acceptable Deal is not reached".

On home shores, figures from the Office for National Statistics showed that unemployment ticked higher in the first quarter, while wage growth slowed.

The unemployment rate in January to March was estimated to be 5.0%, up 0.5 percentage points year-on-year but down 0.1 percentage points on the previous three months. It was marginally higher than consensus of 4.9%.

Annual growth in employees' average regular earnings, which exclude bonuses, was 3.4%, in line with expectations.

ONS director of economic statistics, Liz McKeown, said the latest figures suggest the labour market remains soft, with vacancies at their lowest level in five years and unemployment higher than a year ago.

"The number of payroll employees continued to fall in the three months to March, while regular wage growth slowed further," she said.

"Lower-paying sectors such as hospitality and retail have seen some of the largest falls in vacancies and payroll numbers, both in recent months and over the last year.

"Early estimates of the number of people on payroll in April point to further weakness. However, at the start of the new tax year, these figures carry greater uncertainty and have often seen larger than average upward revisions."

In corporate news, Standard Chartered said it expects to deliver a return on tangible equity of over 15% by 2028, more than 3 percentage points higher than 2025, rising to around 18% by 2030.

After delivering its 2026 financial targets a year earlier than planned, the company has set out new medium-term targets that also include producing an earnings per share CAGR in the high-teens and 5-7% income CAGR between 2025 and 2028.

"We are investing in long-term structural trends to help corporate and institutional clients navigate a more connected, digital and increasingly complex global economy," the bank said.

SSP Group said like-for-like sales in the first six weeks of its second half rose 3% compared to 5% in the first two quarters of the fiscal year. The airport and rail food outlet operator said it still expected earnings to be with consensus estimates despite the impact of the Iran war on travel.

"However, if the operating environment were to deteriorate e.g. due to a resumption of the conflict in the Middle East, a material further decline in the availability of aviation fuel, or a marked softening of consumer travel sentiment, it would inevitably impact our full year performance," the company said.

Underlying operating profit for the six months to 31 March rose 9% to £50m.

Electricals retailer Currys said full-year profit was set to be ahead of guidance as it hailed a strong performance in the UK & Ireland and the Nordics.

The company now expects full-year adjusted pre-tax profit of around £191m, up 18% on the previous year and above guidance for between £180m and 190m.