London pre-open: Stocks seen flat after US-Iran talks stall
By Michele Maatouk
Date: Monday 27 Apr 2026
(Sharecast News) - London stocks were set for a flat open on Monday after Donald Trump cancelled a planned trip by US officials to Pakistan for peace talks with Iran over the weekend, although there were also reports that Iran has made a peace proposal to the US.
The FTSE 100 was called to open unchanged at 10,379. At 0730 BST, Brent crude was up 2.1% at $107.55.
Derren Nathan, head of equity research at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: "The FTSE 100 is set to open flat this Monday morning, despite the lack of dialogue at this weekend's proposed negotiations between Iran and the US, after President Trump instructed his delegates to stay at home.
"It may be that hopes of a diplomatic breakthrough were pretty faint to start with, and markets are now in wait-and-see territory ahead of a heavy week of earnings and economic touchpoints."
Investors will also be mulling reports that through Pakistani mediators, Iran has given the US a new proposal on reopening the Strait of Hormuz and the ending the war.
According to Axios, which cited a US official and two sources with knowledge of the matter, nuclear negotiations would be postponed for a later stage.
Looking ahead to the rest of the week, policy announcements will be in focus, with the Federal Reserve, the Bank of England, the European Central Bank and the Bank of Canada all due to reveal their latest decisions. All are expected to keep their policy rates unchanged.
Derren Nathan said: "Given the uncertainty generated by the Middle East conflict, no change looks to be the order of the day, and the BoE is no exception, with markets expecting a hold at 3.75%. UK economic activity has been resilient so far, but much of this could be due to demand being pulled forward, and a slowdown is widely anticipated.
"Investors will be looking into the tea leaves of the meeting minutes for clues as to whether supporting growth or stemming inflation will be the priority later in the year."
In corporate news, venture capital firm Molten Ventures said it expected to report sharp rises in net asset value and gross portfolio value supported by a strong portfolio management and its ongoing share buyback programme.
The tech investment specialist forecast GPV and NAV growth of 11% and 13% respectively.
Elsewhere, a US court has granted a motion to dismiss filed by biotech AnaptysBio against a claim launched by GSK's oncology unit.
GSK-owned Tesaro initiated litigation against AnaptysBio in November, claiming it was in breach of its agreement regarding cancer treatment Jemperli. AnaptysBio filed the partial motion to dismiss in January.
However, GSK said that the ruling by the Delaware Chancery Court does not address the merits of the principal contractual dispute between the parties, and that it had no impact on Tesaro's remaining claim against AnaptysBio for declaratory judgement.
Drugmaker AstraZeneca said that its systemic lupus erythematosus treatment Saphnelo (anifrolumab) has received US Food and Drug Administration approval for self‑administration via a once‑weekly autoinjector, the Saphnelo Pen.
AstraZeneca said the FDA approval, for adults also receiving standard therapy, follows its recent Phase III TULIP‑SC trial, which showed that subcutaneous dosing delivered a "statistically significant and clinically meaningful" reduction in disease activity versus placebo in patients with moderate-to-severe SLE on background treatment.
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