FTSE 100 LIVE: UK blue-chips close the session in the red as miners win the pull against resurgent builders

The FTSE 100, having spent the day firmly in the green, ended down 10 points at 10,685, dragged lower by the mining sector. Precious metals and copper price falls drove the declines, which in turn were driven by geopolitical jitters. The builders, buoyed by the potential renewal of Help to Buy, were well bid. However, their scant representation in the blue-chip index more-or-less nixed the counterpull.

London stocks kicked on in the afternoon, with the FTSE 100 up almost 60 points.

Wall Street opened lower, with the Dow Jones down 0.7% and the S&P 500 and Nasdaq both off 0.5%.

US-Iran tensions resurfaced after President Trump rejected Tehran's proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, pushing Brent crude up to $98 a barrel and lifting Treasury yields.

Talks are due to resume this week.

Nvidia bucked the trend after the chipmaker announced a $150 billion share buyback, the largest single authorisation on record.

Wider tech stocks came under pressure after OpenAI disclosed that one of its AI agents had escaped its container and accessed the internet.

Investors also face PCE inflation data on Wednesday and Friday's US jobs report.

The FTSE 100 kept its head above water with a 33-point gain, shrugging off weak signals from Wall Street.

US stock futures fell, with the Nasdaq-100 down 0.9%, the S&P 500 off 0.5% and the Dow Jones down 0.6%.

President Trump rejected Iran's proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and end the war, although talks are set to resume this week.

Brent crude rose to $98 a barrel.

Tech stocks came under pressure after OpenAI disclosed that one of its AI agents had escaped its container and accessed the internet, the latest in a string of AI safety breaches.

Investors also face PCE inflation data on Wednesday and Friday's US jobs report.

Gold looks more likely to claw back to $4,500 an ounce by the end of the year than to slide to $3,500, according to bank forecasts and betting markets.

The metal fell 2.8% to $4,157 an ounce on Monday, and a drop to $4,100 now looks close to certain.

The bigger question is whether the sell-off turns into a rout or a buying opportunity.

The case for $4,500

The big banks mostly expect a recovery. Year-end targets cluster between roughly $4,500 and $4,900, with Goldman at $4,900, J.P. Morgan at $4,500, HSBC at $4,750, UBS at $4,600 and Morgan Stanley at $4,450.

Goldman reaffirmed its target last week, still seeing net upside risk to its $4,900 year-end forecast but warning of greater two-sided volatility along the way.

The main support is buying by central banks, which have been diversifying away from the dollar.

UBS goes further, and treats pullbacks toward $4,000 as a buying opportunity rather than a reversal signal.

Nick Cawley, contributing analyst at bullion dealer Solomon Global, takes a similar line, saying longer-term investors may see value around $4,000.

While the FTSE 100 made a bright start to proceedings, there was some selling pressure, which took the gloss off a strong early start, reversing some of the early headway of the blue-chip index.

London-listed miners came under heavy selling pressure on Monday morning as gold fell 2.5% to $4,211.37 an ounce and silver dropped 4.1% to $62.12.

Fresnillo was the FTSE 100's biggest faller, down 5.1% at 2,743p, while Endeavour Mining lost 4.6%.

Hochschild Mining fell 5.9% to lead the FTSE 250 fallers.

Higher bond yields and a firm dollar have dented the appeal of precious metals, which pay no income.

The selling spread to copper and diversified miners despite a 1.5% rise in copper futures, with Antofagasta down 2.9% and Anglo American off 2.4%.

Sharp falls in Chinese shares revived worries about demand from the world's largest metals consumer.

Housebuilders led the market higher after Prime Minister Andy Burnham unveiled "Your First Home", a revival of Help to Buy for first-time buyers of new homes.

The scheme offers a 20% equity loan to buyers with a 2.5% deposit, with income and price caps to target support.

Persimmon jumped 14.6% to 1,322.25p and Barratt Redrow rose 14.4% to 353.35p, while Taylor Wimpey, Bellway and Vistry all gained more than 12%.

Panmure Liberum named Persimmon and MJ Gleeson as probable key winners, given their lower-priced homes.

Suppliers followed, with Genuit up 11%, Travis Perkins up 9.5% and Breedon up 8.2%.

Full details are expected in October's Budget.

The FTSE 100 opened its weekly account in the green, matching pre-market predictions of a 25-point gain.

Bodycote, the coatings specialist, fell around 3% in early trading after CVC walked away from a counter-bid for the business, leaving the way clear for Veritas to take the business private.

Entain was also an early loser, despite maintaining its forecasts in the face of Brazil's online betting ban.

The FTSE 100 is expected to open 25 points higher on Monday, according to futures prices, bucking a weaker session across most of Asia.

Chipmakers led the selling in Asia after OpenAI, the ChatGPT developer, paused training of some of its most advanced artificial intelligence (AI) models while it strengthens safety controls.

Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, the South Korean memory chip makers, each fell almost 5%.

Investors fear a slower pace of AI development could curb demand for chips and data centres.

Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, rose more than 2% to above $106 a barrel after President Donald Trump rejected an Iranian proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

Higher energy costs stoked inflation fears, and US 30-year Treasury yields rose close to their highest level since 2004.

Markets are pricing in a roughly 66% chance of another Federal Reserve rate rise in October.

Australia's central bank is widely expected to raise rates by a quarter point on Tuesday.