Tuesday Morning Markets: FTSE Steady as ULVR Jumps, Barclays Slides on Earnings

London stocks have edged higher on Tuesday, with the FTSE 100 up 0.2% and the FTSE 250 gaining 0.1%.

Gains are modest across the continent too, with Germany’s DAX up 0.1%, France’s CAC 40 rising 0.3% and the Euro Stoxx 50 adding 0.2%.

The oil sell-off has extended as hopes of Middle East de-escalation build, with the pause in U.S.-Iran strikes now in its third day.

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Therefore, Brent crude has fallen a further 3.2% to $83.15 a barrel, with WTI down 3% to $80.12. Meanwhile, spot gold has eased 0.8% to $4,045 an ounce, with silver down 1.4% to $57.57.

Unilever (LON: ULVR) leads the FTSE 100, up 6.1%, after upgrading its full-year outlook on the back of a strong first half…

Underlying sales grew 4.8%, accelerating to 5.8% in the second quarter, led by 5.5% volume growth, with management now guiding to sales growth within its 4%–6% range. Its Foods combination with McCormick is progressing, with a London secondary listing confirmed.

Meanwhile, Croda (LON: CRDA) has risen 3.1% on its half-year results, and Admiral (LON: ADM) has added 3%.

Barclays (LON: BARC) tops the fallers, down 5.4%, in a case of strong numbers undone by high expectations. Second-quarter income rose 16% to £8.3 billion and pre-tax profit jumped 31% to £3.3 billion, beating forecasts,

Games Workshop (LON: GAW) has dropped 3.1% on its full-year results, while Lion Finance (LON: BGEO) has lost 2.7% so far in the session.

Elsewhere, SSP Group (LON: SSPG) issued a third-quarter update, Frasers Group (LON: FRAS) confirmed a condition was satisfied on its Hugo Boss stake offer, and Unite Group (LON: UTG) reported its interim results.

In the FTSE 250, Man Group (LON: EMG) rose 5.3% on its half-year results, GlobalData (LON: DATA) also gained 5.3% and Coats (LON: COA) added 4.8% on its half-year report.

Ceres Power (LON: CWR) has declined 5.06%, Pacific Horizon (LON: PHI) has lost 4.9% and Jupiter (LON: JUP) is down 3.9%.

There’s no major news on the economic calendar today. However, PayPal, Boeing and UPS will report earnings before the open, while names including Visa and KLA Corporation will post quarterly updates after the close.