FTSE Closes Week Higher

2026-10-16 15:46 By Agna Gabriel 1 min. read

The FTSE 100 recovered from earlier losses to finish higher on Friday, as gains in defence, consumer and energy stocks outweighed weakness in the banking sector.

Submarine contractor Babcock rose more than 3%, while BAE Systems gained around 2.5%.

Unilever advanced 1% and British American Tobacco climbed 2.3%, while Shell and BP each added approximately 0.8%.

Mining stocks also strengthened, with Rio Tinto up 0.8% and Glencore gaining 1.7%.

Banks remained under pressure amid reports that Chancellor John Healey plans to raise taxes on lenders in the upcoming budget.

Lloyds Banking Group fell more than 1% after RBC Capital Markets downgraded the stock to sector-perform from outperform, while NatWest declined 1.7%.

Pharmaceutical shares also lagged, with AstraZeneca down 2% and GSK losing 0.7%.

The FTSE 100 gained around 3% over the week, following a 0.9% rise in the previous week.



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