FTSE 100 Roughly Flat At Noon As Investors Look For Direction

(RTTNews) - UK stock market's benchmark FTSE 100 was up marginally a little past noon on Tuesday with stocks turning in a mixed performance in cautious trading amid conflicting reports on potential U.S.-Iran talks on ending the conflict.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday that he will "postpone any and all strikes against Iranian power plants and energy infrastructure" for five days following "productive conversations" regarding a "complete and total resolution" to the conflict.

The Iranian regime refuted Trump's claims, saying that he aims to buy time for US military plans and reduce energy prices.

Meanwhile, CBS quoted an Iranian foreign ministry official as saying that it has received "points from the US" via mediators as a potential precursor to discussions.

Also, there are reports of preliminary round of calls between Iran's foreign minister Abbas Araghchi and U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff, according to BBC.

The FTSE 100, which advanced to 9,938.45 from a low of 9,837.10, was up 6.65 points or 0.07% at 9,900.80 a few minutes past noon.

Convatec Group climbed 2.7%. Pershing Square Holdings, Smith & Nephew, Games Workshop, AutoTrader Grup, IG Group Holdigs, Smiths Group, 3i Group, Reckitt Benckiser, DCC, BP, National Grid, Associated British Foods, Relx, Pearson, Shell, LSEG and Intertek Group gained 1%-2%.

Antofagasta, JD Sports Fashion, Babcock International, Anglo American Plc, Persimmon, Rolls-Royce Holdings, Barratt Redrow, Berkeley Group Holdings, Marks & Spencer, HSBC Holdings and Metlen Energy & Metals shed 1%-2.1%.

Preliminary data from S&P Global showed the S&P Global UK Composite PMI fell to 51.0 in March 2026, down from 53.7 in February and below expectations of 52.9. This marks the slowest output growth since September 2025, as both services and manufacturing activity weakened.

The S&P Global UK Manufacturing PMI eased to 51.4 in March 2026 from 51.7 in February, compared to expectations of a drop to 50.1, while the S&P Global UK Services PMI fell to 51.2 in March of 2026 from 53.9 in the previous month, firmly below market expectations that it would ease to 53 to mark the softest pace of expansion since September of last year.