(Reuters) -Britain's FTSE 100 was nearly flat on Thursday as advances in defence stocks offset declines in energy and mining shares, while investors assessed the country's latest GDP figures. As of
FTSE 100 Reaches All-Time High Driven by Defence and Financial Stocks
FTSE 100 Performance Overview
(Reuters) -Britain's FTSE 100 hit a record closing high on Thursday, propelled by defence and financial sector gains, while investors assessed key economic data.
Sector Contributions to FTSE 100 Growth
The blue-chip index gained for a fourth consecutive day, ending up 0.1%. The midcap index declined 0.2%.
Market Reactions to Economic Data
Investors responded positively to UK second-quarter GDP figures, which showed that growth slowed less than expected despite U.S. trade tariffs and a weaker jobs market.
Key Movers in the Market
While Wall Street retreated following unexpectedly high U.S. producer price inflation data - dampening hopes for Federal Reserve interest rate cuts - the UK benchmark remained resilient.
The aerospace and defence index provided a boost, rising 2%.
Financials added further support as insurer Aviva jumped 2.5% to a 17-year high after raising its interim dividend and reporting a 22% increase in half-year operating profit, boosting the life insurers' index 1.5%.
The non-life insurers index advanced 1.9%, with Admiral Group rising 6.6% after reporting a 67% jump in half-year pretax profit.
British Gas owner Centrica rose 3.7% after announcing it would jointly buy National Grid's Grain LNG terminal with U.S.-based Energy Capital Partners for about 1.5 billion pounds ($2 billion).
On the flip side, the energy sector fell 1.4%.
Harbour Energy led the losses, falling 4.8%, while oil major Shell fell over 1%.
Industrial metal miners also retreated 2.3%.
Some major names, including HSBC, BP, Hikma Pharmaceuticals and Hiscox, fell close to 1% as their shares went ex-dividend - trading without entitlement to the latest dividend payout.
Among other movers, technical products distributor Diploma fell 2.9% after finance chief Chris Davies stepped down.
($1 = 0.7365 pounds)
(Reporting by Ragini Mathur in Bengaluru. Additional reporting by Rashika Singh. Editing by Sahal Muhammed and Mark Potter)
