Weapons and fighter jet manufacturer BAE Systems has seen its shares soar higher as the defence sector received a boost following the Ukraine summit hosted by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer over the weekend.
Shares in BAE hit a record high after jumping by 19 per cent at one stage in Monday morning trading, helping the wider FTSE 100 Index also lift to a new all-time high, up 23 points at 8832.8. By 10am GMT they had retraced slightly, but BAE remained up 14 per cent for the day at £16 per share.
It leaves BAE shares up almost 40 per cent for the year to date.
Engine maker Rolls-Royce followed closely behind BAE on the blue chip index, with a 6 per cent rise amid the rally in the defence sector.
Sir Keir pledged to “develop a coalition of the willing” to defend a deal in Ukraine and guarantee a peace settlement as part of a plan discussed by leaders at Sunday’s Lancaster House meeting.
He also announced a £1.6 billion finance deal which will allow Ukraine to buy more than 5,000 missiles to be made by French defence and aerospace giant Thales Group in Belfast.
Sir Keir said on Sunday that the manufacturing deal for the lightweight multirole missiles (LMM) will create 200 jobs.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky attended the summit and afterwards flew to Sandringham to meet the King, with French President Emmanuel Macron also in attendance.
Outgoing Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez were also seated around the table of 19 leaders at the gathering in central London.
The summit comes after leaders rallied around Mr Zelensky following his confrontation with Mr Trump in the Oval Office on Friday.
Other stocks linked to the defence sector were enjoying sharp gains on Monday, with defence technology group QinetiQ up 9 per cent in the FTSE 250, followed by Babcock International with a 7 per cent rise and Chemring up 4 per cent.
Among small cap stocks, there were big share increases for helmet and gas mask maker Avon Technologies – up 7 per cent – while Cohort, which is a specialist in sonar, torpedo and communications, surged 10 per cent.
