FTSE 100 Live 12 August: US stocks rise, Sunil Mittal-owned Bharti buys BT stake [Video]

The FTSE 100 has ended the day higher, up 0.5% or 42 points to 8,210 as it continued its recovery from last week’s slump.

Shares in BT were the clear winner among blue-chips, with the stock making further gains in late trade to finish the session up 7.6% to 140p after the telco announced a near one-quarter stake had been bought by Indian firm Bharti.

Telco rival Vodafone also rose nearly 1% after the announcement.

Susanah Streeter, head of money and markets, Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “This is a confidence boosting move, with Bharti Global clearly confident that there is long-term untapped value in the group.

“It clearly sees great potential in Openreach, which is responsible for maintaining and building out the new fibre networks. It hopes to reach 25mn premises by 2026 and looks well on track to do that.

“It’s also likely to have been encouraged by indications that …