The FTSE 100 fell slightly on Tuesday, mostly recovering from afternoon lows caused by worries over escalating tensions around Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
London’s blue-chip index fell by 10.3 points, or 0.13%, to end the day at 8,099.02.
The falls came amid reports that Ukraine had fired a US-made long-range missile into Russian territory for the first time.
Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier approved changes to the country’s nuclear doctrine, expanding the criteria requiring a nuclear response to include “aggression by any non-nuclear state, but with the participation or support of a nuclear country”.
Investors piled into safe-haven currencies like the US dollar, while European markets fell.
Chris Beauchamp, analyst at online trading platform IG, said: “Risk assets like stocks are not likely to enjoy a good day when the word ‘nuclear’ is being bandied around, and today was no exception.
“The Ukrainian use of US missiles on targets inside Russia caught European markets particularly hard, taking the already hard-hit Cac 40 to a new three and a half-month low.
“In London the FTSE 100 gave back its morning gains but has avoided any major losses.”
At the end of the day in Europe, Frankfurt’s Dax index fell 0.67%, while the Cac 40 in Paris retreated 0.67%.
In New York, a little while after markets had closed in Europe, the S&P 500 had gained 0.20%, while the Dow Jones was 0.22% lower.
On currency markets the pound was trading 0.026% lower against the dollar at 1.2675 and had risen 0.089% against the euro at 1.1977.
In company news, fashion icon Mulberry reported a 19% fall in group revenues in the six months to September 28.
The luxury brand said it had cut 85 jobs at its head office – around a quarter of the total – as it tried to “rebuild”.
The business said it had faced a challenging six months with “uncertain macroeconomic trends” as revenues in the UK fell 14%.
The business’s pre-tax loss widened to £15.7 million from £12.8 million a year earlier. By the end of the day shares had lost 11.7% of their value.
Revolution Beauty reported that it had swung to a loss in the six months to the end of August.
The cosmetics brand reported a £10.9 million loss for the period as sales plunged by a fifth to £72.4 million.
Shares in the business fell 6.1%.
Shares in cigarette-maker Imperial Brands were up 3.3% by the close as it reported a 26% rise in the sale of e-cigarettes.
The company, which makes the vape brand Blu, said its next-generation product line brought revenues of £8.2 billion in the year to September.
Brent Crude Futures were down 0.014% to 73.290 US dollars at the close of trading.
The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 were BT, up 5.05p to 149.8p, Imperial Brands, up 74p to 2475p, British Land, up 11.2p to 384.6p, Land Securities, up 12p to 596.5p, and Airtel Africa, up 1.8p to 97.75p.
The biggest fallers were Diploma, down 362p to 4174p, Melrose Industries, down 14.6p to 512p, Prudential, down 15.2p to 624.8p, Rolls-Royce, down 11.6p to 527.6p, and IAG, down 4.9p to 239.7p.
