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British defence stocks were taken for a ride on Monday after rising geopolitical tensions put heightened investor appetite.
It was the City’s defence giants Babcock and BAE leading the FTSE 100 to start the week, alongside gold miners who were benefiting from the surging price of gold.
The market movements reflected the bubbling geopolitical conflict after the US struck Venezuela and triggered a regime change.
But President Donald Trump showed no sign of stopping there with the commander-in-chief alluding to interests in Greenland and Colombia.
This led to investors rushing into “safe haven” assets such as gold, helping lift the yellow metal’s price higher, as well as boosting major defence firms.
This helped the FTSE 100 net its first close above 10,000 after a 0.5 per cent rally.
Oil took a tumble in early trading, despite promises from Trump to “spend billions of dollars” and send US firms in to “fix the badly broken infrastructure” in Venezuela’s output. The country is expected to host the world’s largest oil reserve but faces challenges in production due to decades of mismanagement.
Shares in US energy firms rose on the news; Chevron, which already operates in Venezuela under a special licence provided by the Trump administration, jumped four per cent as markets opened, whilst Halliburton, a key provider to the sector, soared seven per cent.
Meanwhile, in London Shell and BP took a tumble in afternoon trading to close in the red.
Stick with us and we’ll be bringing you the top news of the morning.
Here’s a few of our top stories from yesterday
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Trump’s push for ‘crypto capital’ sparks PwC shift towards digital assets
Industry boss slams Labour for lack of tech sector support
Fashion giant Zara holds a mirror up to retail disruption
Auction Tech fends off 11 takeover bids from largest shareholder