Closing post
And finally, the UK stock market has slipped away from today’s record high.
The FTSE 100 has closed 17 points higher, or +0.17%, at 10,171 points, having scaled a new peak of 10,277 earlier today.
The index slipped back as miners, and precious metal produceds, slipped as the gold, silver and copper prices dropped back dramatically from their latest highs.
Gold is now down 2% today, while silver is 0.8% lower.
Oil is still higher, though – Brent crude is 3.3% up today at $70.66 a barrel, on concerns that the US might attack Iran.
Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, will travel to Ankara for talks aimed at preventing a US attack, as Turkish diplomats seek to convince Tehran it must offer concessions over its nuclear programme if it is to avert a potentially devastating conflict.
Swiss bank UBS has today increased its gold price target to $6,200 per ounce for March, June and September 2026, compared with a prior forecast of $5,000.
However, the bank projected a modest decline to $5,900 per ounce by end-2026, Reuters reports.
