London stocks gain on softer oil, easing gilt yields; defence shares fall
EWU•The FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 each rose 0.4% as oil prices and gilt yields eased, while defence stocks fell 2% to 4%.
1. Indexes advance
The FTSE 100 rose 0.4% to 24,215.33 points, and the FTSE 250 also gained 0.4% on Tuesday. Brent crude fell 2% as resilient Middle Eastern exports and a G7 emergency stockpile release eased supply concerns, while government borrowing costs declined after gilt yields reached multi-decade highs last week.
2. Defence shares fall
BAE Systems, Babcock International and Rolls-Royce fell between 2% and 4%. The government was reportedly considering delaying plans to set out a path towards raising defence spending to 3% of GDP.
3. Company movers
Informa rose 3% after saying it would buy events organiser Clarion for £2.24 billion and spin off its Taylor & Francis academic publishing division. Clarkson gained 2.2% after forecasting annual underlying pretax profit above market expectations. ASOS dropped 9.6% after customers received notifications warning of a hack; the company said basic personal information might have been accessed, but it did not believe payment-card information or account passwords were affected.
