Top Performing UK Sectors & Industries

The FTSE 100 has gone nowhere over the past month, but a handful of sectors and industries on the London market are still trending higher.

This is a non-discretionary watchlist: it simply ranks sectors and industries by one-month performance and lists the top five of each, leaving out the catch-all Miscellaneous group.

It’s built for trend followers looking to own shares in only the strongest sectors, essentially to join strength with a view to buying high and selling higher, with the obvious risk that some of these moves are already stretched.

Highlights

• Leadership is narrow: only four of 20 sectors are up over the past month, while the FTSE 100 is down around 1.4% over the same period after closing at 10,719 on Wednesday.

• Deals are behind the two biggest jumps, with Eleco (ELCO) up 80% on a private equity takeover and GoPro (0R1C) doubling on a merger.

• The chip rally is doing the heavy lifting in tech, with Austria’s AT&S (0O5C) up 50% and UK-listed TT Electronics (TTG) up 35%.

• Homegrown names are in the mix too, with Frontier Developments (FDEV) up 38% and Raspberry Pi (RPI) up 14% after Thursday’s record first-half results.

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How the Screen Works

The rankings come from TradingView’s UK sector and industry data, sorted by one-month performance.

The data is weighted by market value and includes international stocks traded on the London Stock Exchange’s international order book, so giants like SpaceX and Dell carry a lot of weight in some groups. The top riser named for each group is the best one-month performer with a market value above £100 million.

Top 5 Sectors

Energy and chips are the clearest themes at sector level.

Source: TradingView | UK Sector Performance, ranked by 1-month change (excl. Miscellaneous)

Communications leads at 5.2%, but its weighting is dominated by SpaceX. The top riser is Portugal’s NOS (0J1Z), up 11%, while Vodafone (VOD) is the standout UK name at 6.5% as BT and Airtel Africa lag.

Electronic Technology has been powered by a chip rally that picked up on Monday as easing US-China trade tensions sent Intel up nearly 14% in a single session. AT&S (0O5C) leads the sector with a 50% gain.

Energy Minerals has tracked Brent back above $100 a barrel, with Norway’s Hunter Group (0JI3) the top riser at 61%. Technology Services is led by Eleco (ELCO), up 80% after agreeing a 235p-a-share cash offer from Accel-KKR, a 75% premium. Consumer Durables’ top riser is GoPro (0R1C), which doubled after agreeing to merge with optical-photonics firm Starman Optical.

Top 5 Industries

Drill down a level and the moves get much bigger.

Source: TradingView | UK Industry Performance, ranked by 1-month change (excl. Miscellaneous)

Computer Processing Hardware tops the list at 15.6%, with Dell (0A7D) the top riser at 22% as AI server demand keeps its shares near record highs. Raspberry Pi (RPI) gives it a UK angle, after first-half revenue jumped 90% to $256.9 million.

Electronic Production Equipment is led by Bloom Energy (0A4L), up 23% after joining the S&P 500 as AI data centres scramble for power. Frontier Developments (FDEV) tops Recreational Products after record full-year profits and a new Disney games deal.

Esprinet (0NFS) leads Electronics Distributors with a 15% gain, while Germany’s 1&1 (0E6Y) is the top riser in Specialty Telecommunications at 10%.

Trend or Short-Term Burst?

The idea is to catch long-lasting trends in fast-growing companies, like the AI hardware names.

But a one-month scan will also pick up short-term bursts of strength in any sector, including those with limited growth prospects. Takeover jumps like Eleco’s and oil-driven moves in energy stocks can fade just as quickly, so the three-month column is worth checking before treating any of these as an established trend.