The FTSE 100 Index Closes 0.80% Higher

The FTSE 100 rose slightly on Tuesday, securing its sixth consecutive quarterly gain with an over 3% rise in Q2 following a 2.5% climb in Q1, marking the index's strongest performance streak since 2022. Market momentum was led by a rally in aerospace and defense shares, with Rolls-Royce climbing 2.1% and BAE Systems adding 2%. Heightened geopolitical optimism and improving base metal values similarly lifted mining stocks like Rio Tinto and Glencore. Financial institutions provided solid support as Lloyds Banking jumped 2.1% alongside steady gains for HSBC, Barclays, and NatWest, while J Sainsbury rose 1.3% on heatwave driven food sales. Conversely, heavyweights AstraZeneca, Unilever, and BP all dropped over 1%, and British American Tobacco fell 0.9%. On the macroeconomic front, the UK’s annualized first quarter GDP growth was scaled back to 0.9%, while quarterly growth matched projections at 0.6% and shop inflation held flat at 1.2%.

The FTSE 100 Index gained 34 points or 0.33 percent on Tuesday to close at 10519 points. Gains were led by Melrose (3.68%), Scottish Mortgage (3.20%) and Babcock International (2.93%). Biggest losers were Smith & Nephew (-4.72%), Entain (-4.09%) and Easyjet Plc (-4.05%).

GB100 increased to 10576.00 Index Points, the highest since April 2026. Over the past 4 weeks, United Kingdom Stock Market Index (GB100) gained 2.27%, and in the last 12 months, it increased 20.36%.