FTSE 100 movers: Defence stocks jump; BT hit by downgrade

By Michele Maatouk

Date: Tuesday 08 Apr 2025

(Sharecast News) - London's FTSE 100 was up 3.4% at 7,967.22 in afternoon trade on Tuesday.
Rolls-Royce, Babcock, BAE Systems and Melrose Industries all rallied after Trump said in a White House announcement on Monday that his administration had approved a defence budget of around $1 trillion.

BA and Iberia owner IAG also flew higher. Richard Hunter, head of markets at Interactive Investor, put this down to bargain hunting after recent weakness.

Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust - which is heavily exposed to the US tech sector - was also a high riser.

On the downside, BT Group slumped as UBS reiterated it 'sell' rating on the stock with an unchanged price target of 120p. It said the market is underappreciating the impact on the company's broadband division from the loss of business from Sky.

FTSE 100 - Risers

Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 680.20p 6.98%
Babcock International Group (BAB) 700.50p 6.86%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 238.70p 6.37%
BAE Systems (BA.) 1,588.00p 6.04%
Games Workshop Group (GAW) 13,070.00p 5.32%
Melrose Industries (MRO) 411.30p 5.03%
Scottish Mortgage Inv Trust (SMT) 855.60p 4.96%
London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) 10,835.00p 4.94%
Flutter Entertainment (DI) (FLTR) 16,950.00p 4.89%
Legal & General Group (LGEN) 225.70p 4.88%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

BT Group (BT.A) 152.70p -2.24%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 929.80p -0.79%
HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 735.70p -0.28%
RELX FINANCE BV 3.375% GTD NTS 20/03/33 (BW73) 99.72p 0.00%
Vodafone Group (VOD) 65.28p 0.09%
Prudential (PRU) 718.80p 0.59%
Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 234.80p 0.69%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 4,267.50p 0.80%
Convatec Group (CTEC) 238.40p 0.85%
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 7,494.00p 0.89%

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