Investing.com — British stocks rose on Monday as a third consecutive night without U.S. strikes on Iran, alongside active Iran-Oman negotiations to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, eased fears of a wider Middle East war.
As of 03:35 ET (07:35 GMT), the FTSE 100 climbed 0.42%, while Germany’s DAX outperformed with a 1.3% gain and France’s CAC 40 added 0.72%. Sterling firmed against the dollar, with GBP/USD up 0.16% at 1.3345.
The U.S. has paused strikes on Iran for a third night after top military officials advised Trump to halt the bombing campaign, with diplomatic talks continuing to avert a return to all-out war.
Iran’s army spokesperson Mohammad Akraminia said Sunday that Tehran would also pause what it called “retaliatory” attacks on U.S. allies in the region, “These attacks continued until two nights ago, but over the past two nights the Americans have stopped their attacks,” said Iran’s army spokesman Mohammad Akraminia.”
“Since… our strategy has essentially been retaliatory, we have also halted our retaliatory operations.”
Adm. Bradley Cooper, the top U.S. military commander in the region, told Trump the campaign had “reached the limits of its effectiveness,” having nearly exhausted the target list developed for Iran, Axios reported Sunday, a message said to have influenced the president’s decision to hold fire.
Asked on NBC’s Meet the Press whether Trump was ruling out further strikes, UN ambassador Mike Waltz said, “I wouldn’t go that far at all. The president is keeping all options on the table.”
Separately, Iranian state broadcaster IRIB reported that six ships attempting to pass through an “illegal and unsafe” route in the southern Strait of Hormuz after disabling navigation systems were intercepted early Monday, with one vessel suffering an accident and the rest turned back under “decisive Iranian management,” IRIB said the vessels had been “provoked by the US military,” a characterisation not independently verified.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has departed for Washington and is due to meet Trump on Tuesday, their seventh meeting since January 2025.
Oil prices fell sharply as markets responded to the pause in strikes, with WTI crude down 5.6% to $84.32 a barrel and Brent down 5.2% to $86.94.
Gold rose on continued safe-haven demand, with futures up 0.84% to $4,104.95 and spot gold up 1.2% to $4,102.82.
UK round up
AstraZeneca beat second-quarter profit forecasts and reaffirmed its 2026 outlook on strong demand for cancer and cardiovascular drugs.