London midday: Stocks flat as Brent nears $100 a barrel
By Michele Maatouk
Date: Tuesday 08 Sep 2026
(Sharecast News) - London stocks were still steady by midday on Tuesday as Brent crude headed towards $100 a barrel.
The FTSE 100 was flat at 10,819.05, while Brent crude was up 1.4% at $98.47 a barrel and West Texas Intermediate was 2.5% higher at $93.73 after Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis attacked several cities in Saudi Arabia, wounding more than 70 people and igniting fires at several oil facilities.
Dan Coatsworth, head of markets at AJ Bell, said: "Oil prices continued a slow creep towards the $100 per barrel mark on Tuesday.
"Brent crude is at a six-week high, with apparent moves toward a deal between Iran and Oman to manage the flow of some shipping through the Strait of Hormuz merely underlining Tehran's control of the waterway.
"For now, government bond yields remained steady and that applied to stocks too.
"Investors will have a laser focus on US inflation data out later this week to see if the impact of rising energy prices is starting to feed into broader inflationary pressures.
"Record copper prices add to a picture which is becoming as complicated for investors as an M.C. Escher work, as the threat of US tariffs on refined copper adds to declining production and rampant demand linked to AI, power grids and electric vehicles.
"In London, miners and oil and gas companies were in demand with investors while banks and housebuilders were among those dragging on UK stocks' performance."
Industry data released earlier showed that UK retail sales growth eased in August as summer spending cooled, with discretionary spending hit as consumers tightened their belts.
According to the latest BRC-KPMG retail sales monitor, total retail sales rose 0.7% year-on-year following 3.1% growth in August 2025. This was below the 12-month average growth of 1.6%.
Food sales were up 2.6% following 4.7% growth a year earlier, while non-food sales fell 0.8% year-on-year in August, versus 1.8% growth the year before.
In-store non-food sales declined by 1.2% last month following 1.3% growth in August 2025, while online non-food sales fell 0.2%, having growth 2.7% in August 2025.
Harvir Dhillon, lead economist at the British Retail Consortium, said: "August was a disappointing month for retail sales. Despite pockets of growth, particularly in some food categories, overall performance was below the average for the past year. With the cost of households bills rising, and set to rise further, many shoppers have clearly been tightening their belts. This was particularly true for discretionary spending, as big-ticket purchases like furniture and household appliances declined and consumers opted to instead treat themselves to smaller luxuries in health and beauty.
"As summer spending cools, all eyes turn to the Autumn Budget. Retailers are being hit by a double whammy of rising costs and slowing consumer demand. The new government has put high streets at the centre of their vision for better economic growth and the upcoming Budget is an opportunity to deliver on this commitment. Taking action on business rates and energy costs would help support retail investment in local communities while delivering value for consumers."
In equity markets, Chilean copper miner Antofagasta was the standout gainer on the FTSE 100 after copper prices hit a new all-time high.
Autotrader was boosted by an upgrade to 'buy' from 'hold' at Jefferies, while Rightmove gained after an upgrade to 'hold' from 'underperform' by the same outfit. Baltic Classifieds was under the cosh after Jefferies downgraded the shares to 'underperform' from 'hold'.
On the downside, tech provider Computacenter reversed earlier gains to trade sharply lower despite saying that full-year earnings would be "significantly ahead" of forecasts after it almost doubled interim profits on the back of a strong performance in North America. Pre-tax profit for the six months to 30 June rose 87% to £152.4m. The company now expects adjusted earnings to be at least £380m compared with a company compiled consensus of £341m.
Homeware retailer Dunelm tumbled as it posted flat full-year pre-tax profits, unveiled a three-year strategic growth plan and said unusually hot weather had dented trading in the first six weeks of FY27.
Coatsworth said: "A warning about weaker trading in July and August has knocked Dunelm's shares for six, sending them down 10% as analysts sharpen their knives to cut profit expectations. It's not the ideal scenario to launch a new three-year growth plan."
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 10,819.05 -0.03%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 24,464.64 -0.17%
techMARK (TASX) 6,072.40 0.02%
FTSE 100 - Risers
Antofagasta (ANTO) 4,054.00p 4.05%
Halma (HLMA) 3,740.00p 2.69%
Weir (WEIR) 2,792.00p 2.64%
Autotrader Group (AUTO) 517.00p 2.33%
Coca-Cola HBC AG (CDI) (CCH) 4,580.00p 2.32%
Spirax Group (SPX) 7,105.00p 1.94%
Airtel Africa (AAF) 354.20p 1.84%
Vodafone Group (VOD) 127.65p 1.79%
Anglo American (AAL) 4,250.00p 1.62%
Croda International (CRDA) 3,307.00p 1.35%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Computacenter (CCC) 5,380.00p -3.23%
Convatec Group (CTEC) 224.80p -1.15%
Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,088.50p -0.95%
M&G (MNG) 356.30p -0.92%
GSK (GSK) 1,818.00p -0.90%
United Utilities Group (UU.) 1,330.00p -0.89%
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 112.10p -0.88%
AstraZeneca (AZN) 11,930.00p -0.83%
SSE (SSE) 2,382.00p -0.79%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 424.80p -0.77%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings (AML) 35.72p 3.12%
Diversified Energy Company (DI) (DEC) 1,140.00p 2.88%
Hansa Investment Company Limited (DI) (HAN) 340.00p 2.41%
Harbour Energy (HBR) 269.40p 2.21%
Oxford Biomedica (OXB) 469.00p 2.07%
Genus (GNS) 2,320.00p 1.84%
Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 1,619.00p 1.76%
Ithaca Energy (ITH) 279.30p 1.64%
Mondi (MNDI) 849.60p 1.48%
RIT Capital Partners (RCP) 2,505.00p 1.41%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Dunelm Group (DNLM) 782.50p -11.79%
Johnson Service Group (JSG) 130.60p -9.05%
Baltic Classifieds Group (BCG) 2.42p -3.81%
Ashmore Group (ASHM) 213.40p -3.70%
Softcat (SCT) 1,970.00p -3.63%
Bloomsbury Publishing (BMY) 611.00p -3.02%
Halfords Group (HFD) 253.00p -2.50%
Telecom Plus (TEP) 838.00p -2.44%
CMC Markets (CMCX) 766.00p -2.42%
Dr. Martens (DOCS) 69.50p -2.39%
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