Iraq government spokesman said if the Strait of Hormuz remains closed, the government will turn to external borrowing.

The Bank of England held Bank Rate at 3.75% as expected; the vote was 6-3 with three members preferring a 25bp hike. Governor Bailey said the pre-existing disinflation trend that existed before the Middle East conflict remains in place, adding: "This offers some initial evidence that inflation inertia may be weaker than previously expected." GBP/USD 1.3381, below 1.3392 before the decision.

Historic low Danube water levels have forced Hungary and Romania to take nuclear reactors offline because cooling-water supply cannot be guaranteed. Hungary’s Paks operator said it will shut one of the plant’s four reactors from 13:00 GMT on the 29th. Paks is Hungary’s only nuclear plant, with 2 GW total installed capacity and accounting for roughly half of the country’s electricity. Romania’s energy sector said Cernavodă Unit 2 will be taken offline from 10:00 local time on the 30th; Unit 1 was shut on the 28th. These outages reduce baseload nuclear generation in both countries.