London’s top index has lagged behind European peers as reports of a new vaping tax weighed on Imperial Brands, while higher oil prices helped lift shares in mining giants.
The FTSE 100 was down just 1.28 points, or 0.02%, to 7,683.02 at close.
Imperial Brands was the biggest faller of the day with its share price down by about 5% amid reports that the UK Government is considering announcing a new tax on vapes at the Budget announcement next week.
Meanwhile, shares in Anglo American, Antofagasta and Endeavor Mining moved higher as oil prices rose for another day.
Brent crude oil was up by 0.8% to 83.2 US dollars per share.
Axel Rudolph, senior market analyst for IG, said: “The oil price is once again rising amid ongoing shipping disruptions and repeated breakdowns in talks for a Gaza ceasefire that raise supply worries.”
Elsewhere in European markets, Germany’s Dax was up 0.76% and France’s Cac 40 closed 0.23% higher.
Over in the US, the S&P 500 was more or less flat while Dow Jones was down by about 0.4% by the time European markets closed.
The pound was flat against the US dollar at 1.2685 and against the euro at 1.169.
In company news, shares in On the Beach soared 13.44% after the business announced a deal to resolve a long-running feud with airline Ryanair.
The companies said the deal would guarantee that customers of On the Beach will not be overcharged when booking Ryanair flights.
The airline had previously lobbed several allegations at the tour operator and others of “knowingly and deliberately overcharging unsuspecting consumers”.
Elsewhere, shares in fund manager Abrdn fell 3.31% even though the business said that it had managed to shrink its pre-tax loss from more than half a billion pounds to just £6 million last year.
It said that clients withdrew funds in 2023 as it saw net outflows of £13.9 billion.
The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 were Vodafone, up 2.32p to 68.4p, Flutter Entertainment, up 385p to 17,080p, Anglo American, up 35.8p to 1,762.4p, SSE, up 30p to 1,594p, and Burberry, up 24.5p to 1,311.5p.
The biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 were Imperial Brands, down 88p to 1,730.5p, Croda, down 155p to 4,748p, Unilever, down 80.5p to 3,915.5p, Informa, down 15.6p to 810.2p, and Frasers, down 15.5p to 816p.