As it happened: Stocks and oil recover; Iran declares end to strikes

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The FTSE 100 edged into the green on Monday lunchtime and US futures pointed to gains, as the markets looked to claw back early jitters caused by fresh Middle East strikes and a tech stock sell-off.

An exchange of fire from Iran and Israel left markets returning from the weekend with little hope a fully-fledged peace deal with the US could be on the horizon.

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said it had fired strikes at military targets in western and central Iran, though did not provide details on the scale of damage or exact locations. The strikes came after the Israeli military intercepted strikes from Iran, which came after its own strikes against Beirut.

Fears of an escalation have collided with a tech sell-off rocking markets in Asia with a dampened investor sentiment seeping through to London.

But Nvidia chief Jensen Huang insisted the sell-off is a buying opportunity for investors in a technology which is only at its “beginning”.

Susannah Streeter, chief investment strategist at Wealth Club, said: “While markets had been surprisingly stoic through the Iran war and a painful energy crunch, sentiment is now more fragile.”

British American Tobacco lit up the leaderboard at midday, up over two per cent to 4,504p. BAE Systems, the defence contractor, was over one per cent sharper at 1,953p.

At the other end, retailers were on sale and travel stocks headed south. Marks and Spencer was down over two per cent. British Airways’ parent, International Consolidated Airlines fell just under two per cent to 413p.

London Stock Exchange stalwart Tate & Lyle surged more than 14 per cent to 561p on the FTSE 250 after its £2.7bn takeover by a US rival was confirmed.

We’ll be bringing you the latest market reaction to this and more.