UK Shares Surge on US-Iran Ceasefire; Shell Falls

London's FTSE 100 climbed 2.51% on Wednesday's close as British Prime Minister Keir Starmer welcomed the two-week ceasefire agreement between the US and Iran ahead of US President Donald Trump's deadline for a deal.Starmer is traveling to the Gulf on Wednesday to meet with leaders and discuss his government's commitment to de-escalation of the war, as well as efforts to uphold the truce. The ceasefire, mediated by Pakistan, includes the "complete, immediate, and safe opening" of the Strait of Hormuz, Trump said on the Truth Social platform.In economic news, Britain's average house prices fell 0.5% month over month in March, after a 0.3% increase in February, according to data from Halifax. The consensus estimate for the month was a 0.1% gain."The recent slowdown in the housing market reflects the wide uncertainty regarding the conflict in the Middle East. Concerns about higher energy prices have pushed up inflation expectations, which in turn led to a rise in mortgage rates, reducing confidence that interest rates will be cut this year and dampening the initial momentum in the market seen at the start of the year," according to Halifax Head of Mortgages Amanda Bryden."The two-week ceasefire announced this morning gives us hope that the war in Iran will be short-lived, but for now it is causing the UK housing market to slow and some of the UK housebuilders to stumble," RBC Capital Markets said regarding the Halifax data. "Share prices are likely to be up today, but peace in Iran will not alone fix the problems facing the UK housing market."In corporate news, Shell (SHEL.L) dropped 4.68% to become one of the blue-chip index's worst performers after guiding first-quarter adjusted loss in the range of $800 million to $1 billion. The oil and gas giant previously forecast an adjusted loss between $400 million and $600 million."Outside of the Qatari outage, which was known, operational guidance today looks resilient relative to our expectations. From a headline perspective, Shell is expected to report a monster working capital build of $10-15bn, highlighting how unprecedented the current commodity price environment is. Given its strong balance sheet, we expect investors to look through this," RBC said in another note.GSK (GSK.L), up 1.38%, secured approval from China's National Medical Products Administration for Exdensur, or depemokimab, as an add-on treatment with intranasal corticosteroids for chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps in adult patients.

-- London's FTSE 100 climbed 2.51% on Wednesday's close as British Prime Minister Keir Starmer welcomed the two-week ceasefire agreement between the US and Iran ahead of US President Donald Trump's deadline for a deal.

Starmer is traveling to the Gulf on Wednesday to meet with leaders and discuss his government's commitment to de-escalation of the war, as well as efforts to uphold the truce. The ceasefire, mediated by Pakistan, includes the "complete, immediate, and safe opening" of the Strait of Hormuz, Trump said on the Truth Social platform.

In economic news, Britain's average house prices fell 0.5% month over month in March, after a 0.3% increase in February, according to data from Halifax. The consensus estimate for the month was a 0.1% gain.

"The recent slowdown in the housing market reflects the wide uncertainty regarding the conflict in the Middle East. Concerns about higher energy prices have pushed up inflation expectations, which in turn led to a rise in mortgage rates, reducing confidence that interest rates will be cut this year and dampening the initial momentum in the market seen at the start of the year," according to Halifax Head of Mortgages Amanda Bryden.

"The two-week ceasefire announced this morning gives us hope that the war in Iran will be short-lived, but for now it is causing the UK housing market to slow and some of the UK housebuilders to stumble," RBC Capital Markets said regarding the Halifax data. "Share prices are likely to be up today, but peace in Iran will not alone fix the problems facing the UK housing market."

In corporate news, Shell (SHEL.L) dropped 4.68% to become one of the blue-chip index's worst performers after guiding first-quarter adjusted loss in the range of $800 million to $1 billion. The oil and gas giant previously forecast an adjusted loss between $400 million and $600 million.

"Outside of the Qatari outage, which was known, operational guidance today looks resilient relative to our expectations. From a headline perspective, Shell is expected to report a monster working capital build of $10-15bn, highlighting how unprecedented the current commodity price environment is. Given its strong balance sheet, we expect investors to look through this," RBC said in another note.

GSK (GSK.L), up 1.38%, secured approval from China's National Medical Products Administration for Exdensur, or depemokimab, as an add-on treatment with intranasal corticosteroids for chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps in adult patients.