FTSE 100 Flat As UK Stocks Turn In Mixed Performance

(RTTNews) - The UK stock market's benchmark index FTSE 100 was roughly flat about half an hour before noon on Tuesday as investors largely stayed cautious amid rising U.S.-Iran tensions, and a lack of fresh triggers.

The 60-day Middle East ceasefire agreement has expired, and Washington has rejected an extension. Meanwhile, Iran has warned of a strong response to any fresh attacks, saying its is preparing to shift to a "fully offensive" military posture.

The FTSE 100 was up 5.60 points or 0.05% at 10,725.90 a little while ago. The index had dropped to a low of 10,702.00 earlier.

Relx, BP, BT Group, Whitbread, The Sage Group, Vodafone Group, Experian, IG Group Holdings, Autotrader Group, Shell, JD Sports Fashion, Computacenter and Centrica gained 1%-2%.

BHP gained modest ground in positive territory after reporting a 9% increase in annual net profit.

Polar Capital Technology Trust dropped more than 3%. Halma, Endeavour Mining, Fresnillo, Antofagasta, Land Securities, Barratt Redrow and Lion Finance Group shed 1.5%-2%.

Barclays, Scottish Mortgage, Diploma, Croda International, Metlen Energy & Metals, Tesco, Persimmon, British Land and Babcock International also moved notably lower.

HgCapital Trust eased by about 1%. The British investment trust announced that it would invest around 20 million pounds through its manager Hg in Nourish Care, a nutritional diet consulting platform.

Data released by the Office for National Statistics showed the unemployment rate in UK remained stable in the three months to June.

The unemployment rate stood at 4.9% in the June quarter, unchanged from the preceding period. The rate was seen at 4.8%.

The number of vacancies decreased 6,000 to 707,000 in the three months to July.

Average earnings excluding bonus logged an annual increase of 3.5%. Including bonus, earnings advanced 4.1% from the last year.

In July, payroll employment decreased 94,000 from the previous year and by 13,000 on a monthly basis to 30.3 million, data showed.