FTSE 100 Rises More than 3% in Q2
2026-06-30 16:30
By
Agna Gabriel
1 min. read
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%.