The government’s move to plan B restrictions to curb the spread of the Omicron Covid-19 variant cast a shadow over the City with travel and leisure stocks weighed on London’s stock markets.
IAG, the British Airways owner, dropped 4½p, or 3.1 per cent, to 158½p; Wizz Air lost 146p, or 3.4 per cent, to £43.18 and easyJet fell 20, or 3.6 per cent, to 529¾. The aero-engine maker Rolls-Royce also fell 4¾p, or 3.6 per cent, to 124¼p even though the company said it had finally stopped bleeding cash as investors could not shrug off concerns about international travel.
Among the leisure stocks the Wagamama-owner the Restaurant Group shed 5p, or 5.5 per cent, to 86p and Cineworld fell 1¼p, or 2.2 per cent, to 50¾p on concerns that the new face covering mandate might put off cinemagoers.
Overall the FTSE 100, London’s premier index, was down 4.28 points, or 0.06 per cent, to 7,332.75 and the more UK-focused FTSE 250 slid 47.41 points, or 0.2 per cent, to 23,183.4.
A string of upbeat corporate updates gave something for investors to be cheerful about. Moonpig rose 19¾p, or 5.1 per cent, to 573p after the online greeting cards retailer reported that revenues in the six months to the end of October were more than double the level they were in 2019.
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The ventilation equipment group Volution gained 25p, or 4.8 per cent, to 539p on the back of posting a 14.6 per cent rise in group revenues to £104 million for the four months to the end of November.
The Sports Direct owner Frasers Group was also among the top risers in the FTSE 250 after it said profits had jumped in the first half of the year, pushing the shares up 11½p, or 1.3 per cent, to 718½p and the construction group Balfour Beatty advanced 7¼p, or 3.6 per cent, to 124¼p after doubling its revenue in the first-half of 2021.