London’s FTSE 100 ended Oct. 20 down 0.29% after recovering from its session low, while Brent crude also declined ahead of a scheduled British inflation release.
London Stock Exchange data put the index’s close at 10,733.00, a loss of 31.69 points. ADVFN recorded a session low of 10,673.02.
Britain’s Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported an unemployment rate of 4.7% for June to August 2026. That was 0.1 percentage point below the preceding three-month period. Total earnings grew 3.7% from a year earlier.
Oil prices fell during the London session. Anadolu Agency reported that Brent stood at $106.18 a barrel at 10:40 a.m. ET (14:40 UTC), down $3.37, or 3.07%, from the previous close. Reuters later reported a settlement of $108.79 a barrel for Brent futures, a decline of 76 cents, or 0.69%, for the session.
Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Oct. 20 that communications, visits and exchanges of messages between Washington and Tehran were continuing. Qatar and Pakistan had also mediated talks in June, according to a joint statement published by the ministry.
The ministry linked efforts to reach a settlement to the risk that further escalation would impose costs on energy supplies and the global economy. Its statement provided diplomatic context for the oil market, but did not establish a cause for the FTSE 100’s decline.
The ONS is scheduled to publish September 2026 consumer price inflation on Oct. 21 at 2 a.m. ET (06:00 UTC). The Bank of England’s next Monetary Policy Committee statement is scheduled for Nov. 5 at 7 a.m. ET (12:00 UTC).
