The FTSE 100 reached a historic peak on Tuesday, maintaining its position above the 10,000-point threshold, as oil and defense stocks continued to rise following U.S. military actions in Venezuela over the weekend. The blue-chip FTSE 100 rose 0.5% to 10,057.56 points by 1012, after it topped the five-digit-point milestone for the first time last week. Meanwhile, the domestically focused mid-cap index dipped 0.1%, while the pan-European STOXX 600 index was up just 0.1%.

The London benchmark’s new high was achieved following a robust performance in 2025, during which it surpassed Europe’s STOXX 600 and the U.S. S&P 500, propelled by advancements in commodity-linked sectors and anticipations of further monetary policy easing by the Bank of England. Shell rose 1.3% and BP increased by 0.8% after oil prices edged higher on Tuesday amid uncertainty surrounding Venezuelan crude output following the U.S. capture of President Nicolas Maduro.

The index of Aerospace and Defence was up 1.9%, benefitting from escalating geopolitical tension, with Rolls-Royce climbing 2.1%, and Babcock International and BAE Systems gaining 2.4% and 1.8%, respectively. In the interim, a survey conducted by Deloitte indicates that British corporate executives have exhibited a marginal increase in optimism following Finance Minister Rachel Reeves’ budget announcement, with CFOs demonstrating a greater readiness to elevate investment levels, even as the overarching sentiment continues to be subdued.

Among individual stocks, Next was up 2.5% as the fashion retailer reported a better-than-expected increase in full-price sales for the nine weeks to December 27 and raised its annual profit outlook for the fifth time over the last year. Ocado experienced an increase of 6.3% following Worldpanel’s report indicating that the online supermarket group achieved the highest sales growth during the Christmas quarter.