FTSE 100 sees third consecutive rise as miners surge – London Report
Tourism-related stocks came under pressure yesterday on concerns about international security after last week’s attacks in Paris, though Britain’s top share index got support from gains in commodity shares.
The blue chip FTSE 100 index was up 10.21 points, or 0.2 per cent, to 6,278.97 points by the close, buoyed in late trade by a rise on Wall Street.
CMC Markets analyst Jasper Lawler said: “From a market’s standpoint, it’s unnerving to see public events like football matches being cancelled because of the threat of terrorism. That’s before any conclusions are drawn on the impact on business and consumer spending.”
The market was supported by higher commodity firms. Miner Antofagasta rose 5.8 per cent despite copper prices remaining weak, after Goldman Sachs upgraded the stock to “neutral” from “sell”.
The industry continues to vex investors who are struggling to price mining stocks following tumbling commodity prices causing restructuring and layoffs.
Hikma Pharmaceuticals was also one of the day’s strongest performers, up 4.9 per cent at 2,048p, after the US Food and Drug Administration said it was “closing” a warning letter it sent to the firm in October last year regarding the company’s injectables manufacturing plant in Portugal.
It had threatened to block drugs manufactured at the plant from entering the US market unless the facilities were improved.
At the other end of the table travel stocks continued to take a beating as investors priced in concerns to tourism following the Paris attacks and other security alerts.
British Airways owner IAG was the biggest faller in the top flight down three per cent, or 18.50p to 573p, Easyjet fell 1.5 per cent to 1,694p and InterContinental Hotels Group was 1.40 per cent lower at 2,465p.
Travel operator TUI managed to rally following heavy losses over the last few days, up 0.11 per cent.
Other big losers for that day were Smiths Group down 2.99 per cent at 989.50p, and Rolls-Royce down 2.16 per cent at 543p.
Barclays investors had a late afternoon panic after it was hit with a $150m (£98.6m) in fine from the US banking regulator over the foreign exchange rigging scandal, trading down 0.5 per cent.
Banking stocks are expected to be under scrutiny tomorrow with the release of the long awaited report into failings at HBOS.