BT Share News (BT.A)

An upbeat outlook from phone and broadband giant BT boosted the fixed line telecoms sector on Friday after the company's third-quarter statement impressed.Meanwhile, ongoing volatility on the wider stock market - due to emerging-market concerns and rising deflationary risks in the Eurozone - was pushing investors towards defensive sectors such as telecoms and tobacco as they scaled back risk appetite in search of so-called 'safe-haven' investments.The benchmark FTSE 100 index in London was trading down over 1.1% at 6,464 shortly before the close.BT raised its earnings outlook for the year today after its broadband fibre business and its new BT Sport channels helped it to boost profits by 8% in the three months ended December 31st.BT said it now expected annual pre-tax earnings before interest, depreciation and amortisation to come in at the upper end of a range of between £6bn and £6.1bn.Richard Hunter from Hargreaves Lansdown said the company was "firing on all cylinders" with broadband demand, a strong performance outside the UK and new sport channels combining to produce "an impressive trinity of growth" in revenue, earnings per share and profit.BT, which has a market capitalisation of over £29bn, is by far the largest stock in the UK-listed fixed line telecoms sector.The shares was trading 2.35% higher at 379.6p in afternoon trade, easily offsetting falls from smaller listed stocks such as Carphone Warehouse, Cable & Wireless Communications and TalkTalk.Top performing sectors so far todayFixed Line Telecommunications 4,412.26 +1.91%Personal Goods 23,500.40 +0.73%Tobacco 33,077.43 +0.59%Bottom performing sectors so far todayIndustrial Metals & Mining 1,075.37 -2.82%Software & Computer Services 1,164.29 -2.10%Life Insurance 6,558.14 -1.88%Oil Equipment, Services & Distribution 20,938.17 -1.78%Industrial Engineering 9,943.03 -1.70%BC