FTSE 100 movers: Oil & Gas, Aerospace & Defence lead gains

Oil and Aerospace & Defence stocks boosted the top flight index as sterling swooned on the heels of the 2017 General Election upset for the Tories.

Some investors may also have been looking ahead to BP's Downstream Day on 14 June, which analysts at Deutsche Bank recently told clients would be a good opportunity for the oil major to lay-out a more convincing business case for its activities in that segment - which the broker believed were significantly undervalued.

Flying high alongside Big Oil were BAE Systems and Rolls Royce, both of which derive a large part of their earnings in US dollars and gain a competitive advantage when the pound depreciates.

Commodity stocks such as Antofagasta, Glencore and BHP Billiton also put in a solid showing, as the price of most base metals on the LME advanced.

Copper prices specifically broke through their recent downtrend the day before, traders at Sucden Financial noted, encouraging further buying.

Commodity import data from China on 8 June showed volumes bounced back last month in comparison to April.

Nonetheless, analysts at Capital Economics doubted the figures marked a sustained recovery.

At the closing bell in London, three-month LME copper futures were at $5,804 per metric tonne, up from $5,743 the day before.

Heading the other way, heightened political uncertainty and the possibility that it might drive further currency weakness and consumer price gains weighed on homebuilders and grocers.

Big-cap financials such as RBS and Lloyds also weakened, as market interest rates moved lower in the wake of haven buying and perhaps also in anticipation of weaker economic growth.