The FTSE 100 recovered from earlier losses to close higher on Friday, as strength in defence, consumer and energy stocks more than offset weakness in the banking sector. Submarine specialist Babcock rose over 3%, while BAE Systems added around 2.5%. Among consumer names, Unilever gained 1% and British American Tobacco advanced 2.3%. In the energy sector, Shell and BP each rose by roughly 0.8%.
Mining stocks also firmed, with Rio Tinto up 0.8% and Glencore ahead 1.7%. By contrast, banks remained under pressure amid reports that Chancellor John Healey intends to increase taxes on lenders in the forthcoming budget. Lloyds Banking Group slipped more than 1% after RBC Capital Markets cut its rating to “sector perform” from “outperform”, while NatWest fell 1.7%.
Pharmaceutical stocks were another weak spot, with AstraZeneca down 2% and GSK losing 0.7%. Despite Friday’s sector divergence, the FTSE 100 ended the week about 3% higher, building on a 0.9% gain the previous week.
