FTSE 100 LIVE: Blue-chips lose momentum as Wall Street makes subdued start

The FTSE 100 lost its momentum to trade flat after Wall Street made a quiet start on Tuesday.

In New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.2%, the S&P 500 was little changed and the Nasdaq Composite edged up 0.2%.

AMD, the US chipmaker, rose after agreeing to buy World Labs, the AI startup founded by Fei-Fei Li, for $8.2 billion.

Oil eased, with Brent crude near $96 a barrel, as Saudi Arabia resumed exports through its East-West pipeline.

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The FTSE 100 was up 30 points as Wall Street futures wobbled into positive territory ahead of the US open. Dow Jones and S&P 500 futures edged into the green, while Nasdaq-100 contracts rose 0.2%.

AI safety is back on the agenda. A leaked Anthropic flotation prospectus, reported by Reuters, shows the AI lab targeting a $2 trillion valuation while warning that AI could pose existential risks to humanity.

Hours later, the Wall Street Journal reported that OpenAI had shelved its next-generation model after safety concerns emerged in testing.

Tech bosses including Anthropic's Dario Amodei, Nvidia's Jensen Huang and Meta's Mark Zuckerberg lunch with President Trump at the White House later today.

AMD shares barely moved despite an $8.2 billion swoop for Fei-Fei Li's AI start-up World Labs.

Brent crude hovered near $100 a barrel as US and Iranian officials returned to talks.

Carnival and CarMax report later, alongside US job openings and consumer confidence data.

The FTSE 100 has drifted well off its session high, up 16 points at 10,701.

Oil stocks are leading the fallers, with Ithaca Energy down 3.6% at 275.4p and BP off 2.2% at 551.3p.

Barratt Redrow slipped 1.4% to 340.45p as investors banked some profits after Monday's sharp spike on the government's Help to Buy boost.

Defensive heavyweights are also out of favour. British American Tobacco fell 2.2%, while Diageo and Unilever each lost more than 1%.

The FTSE 100 was up 32 points at around 10,717, though off its early high, as bond markets continued to cast a long shadow.

The US 10-year Treasury yield pushed above 5.25%, a level it has breached only once since 2002, according to Saxo's strategy team.

The 30-year yield hit 5.58%, its highest since 2004.

Oil kept climbing, with Brent above $107 a barrel after President Trump rejected Iran's latest proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

Saudi Arabia offered some relief by resuming exports through its East-West pipeline at about 3.5 million barrels a day.

Gold steadied near $4,125 an ounce after sliding to a seven-week low on Monday.

Rising real yields, a firmer dollar and no Middle East peace deal have all weighed on bullion.

Silver's slump explains why Fresnillo was Monday's weakest blue chip, down 5.1%.

Closer to home, shop price inflation eased to 1.4% in September, helped by promotions on meat and dairy.

The British Retail Consortium warned that retailers cannot keep absorbing rising costs.

UK consumer price inflation, currently 3.1%, is expected to top 4% early next year as energy prices bite.

In Europe, ECB President Christine Lagarde said inflation forecasts for 2027 and 2028 had risen.

Markets are pricing in about a full percentage point of eurozone rate rises by the end of next year.

London shares moved higher at the open, with the FTSE 100 up 61 points in early trading.

Miners led the way, clawing back some of Monday's losses.

Antofagasta topped the leader board with a 2.1% gain, ahead of Anglo American on 1.8%, Fresnillo on 1.5% and Rio Tinto on 1.3%.

Mining equipment maker Weir Group joined the party, up 1.1%.

The buying spread beyond the diggers. AstraZeneca rose 1.3% after unveiling a $2 billion stake in Summit Therapeutics, while InterContinental Hotels and Burberry both added 1.2%.

The FTSE 100 looks set to ignore the gloom drifting over from Asia, with spread betting firms expecting a 23-point gain at the open after Monday's 10-point slip.

Asian markets fell broadly, with Japan's Nikkei 225 down 1.1%, Korea's Kospi off 0.6% and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong declining 0.4%.

The 10-year US Treasury yield climbed above 5.27%, its highest level in 19 years, which makes borrowing dearer for governments, companies and anyone else with a loan.

Brent crude sat near $107 a barrel, with no breakthrough yet in the US-Iran conflict disrupting traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.

Tech stocks had their own worries after OpenAI reportedly scrapped a new model that failed internal safety checks.

Anthropic's stock market prospectus did little to calm nerves, revealing a $42 billion net loss for 2025, most of it an accounting charge.

The Reserve Bank of Australia is expected to raise rates to 4.60% later today.