Thursday, 26 March 2015 20:31
LONDON: Britain’s top share index fell sharply on Thursday, led by travel stocks after air strikes in Yemen sent oil prices surging.
Britain’s FTSE 100 was down 1.3 percent at 6,899.90 points by 1211 GMT, bringing the drop since a record high hit on Tuesday to 2.4 percent.
Airlines saw substantial selling as Brent crude shot up nearly 6 percent after Saudi Arabia and its Gulf Arab allies began a military operation in Yemen.
Travel and leisure firms, many of which have oil as a substantial input cost, were down 2.6 percent, having rallied by a third since lows hit in October 2014.
Airline IAG fell more than 4 percent, with cruise operator Carnival down 2.2 percent.
Budget airline easyJet dropped 4.4 percent despite upgrading first-half forecasts.
Oil firm BP was up 0.4 percent.
“Given the FTSE is heavily exposed to commodities, we see the weakness being relatively protected by the drops we are seeing in Europe,” Atif Latif, director of trading at Guardian Stockbrokers, said.
London Stock Exchange group was the biggest FTSE 100 faller in percentage terms, down 8.7 percent at 2,320 pence after Borse Dubai sold its 17.4 percent stake.
A familiar with the matter said the sale went through at 2,250 pence per share.
Chip maker ARM extended the previous session’s fall in substantial volumes as investors grew nervous about its high valuation at a time of slowing smartphone sales growth in markets including China.
The stock was down 4.6 percent at 1,075 pence.
“I’ve still got my ‘shorts’ in place on ARM. I’m waiting to see if it can go down further to test the 10 pound level,” said Beaufort Securities sales trader Basil Petrides.
Copyright Reuters, 2015
