The Financial Post reports in its Friday, Jan. 9, edition that President Donald Trump's plans to request an increase in the U.S. military budget are giving a boost to defence stocks around the world, with those in Europe having a particularly strong start to a year that looks set to be dominated by geopolitics. A Bloomberg dispatch to the Post reports that a Goldman Sachs basket of European defence stocks rose as much as 3.8 per cent Thursday, extending its gain for the week to about 13 per cent. In the United States, Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin surged more than 6 per cent in premarket trading. Defence stocks also rose in Asia. Already this year, the U.S. has launched a raid on Venezuela, while the White House has said Mr. Trump will not rule out using military force to acquire Greenland. On Wednesday, Mr. Trump demanded a $500-billion (U.S.) increase in annual defence spending. In Europe, biggest gainers included BAE Systems. Shares in the U.K. company rose as much as 7 per cent. German heavyweight Rheinmetall gained as much as 4.1 per cent. Asian defence stocks rising included South Korea's Hanwha Aerospace, Taiwan's Aerospace Industrial Development and Japan's Howa Machinery.