Commodities
FTSE Falls as Oil Prices Rise Amid US-Iran Deal Uncertainty
London's FTSE 100 index fell 0.05% to 10,700.05 points on Thursday as crude oil prices continued to rise amid little progress towards a US-Iran deal.
The blue-chip index was dragged down by industrial stocks, with Rolls Royce and BAE Systems down 2% and 1.3% respectively.
Oil prices extended gains after climbing 4% in the previous session as US-Iran diplomatic talks showed no concrete sign of progress, fuelling inflation concerns and lifting government bond yields.
The UK's energy giants rose, with BP gaining 1.9% and Shell adding 1.4%, while British banks dipped 1% after heavyweights HSBC and Standard Chartered fell over 1% each.