Advertisement
UK markets close in 4 hours 32 minutes

  • FTSE 100

    8,114.56
    +35.70 (+0.44%)
     

  • FTSE 250

    19,828.55
    +226.57 (+1.16%)
     

  • AIM

    755.73
    +2.61 (+0.35%)
     

  • GBP/EUR

    1.1656
    -0.0001 (-0.00%)
     

  • GBP/USD

    1.2512
    +0.0001 (+0.01%)
     

  • Bitcoin GBP

    51,279.38
    +526.13 (+1.04%)
     

  • CMC Crypto 200

    1,388.64
    -7.89 (-0.56%)
     

  • S&P 500

    5,048.42
    -23.21 (-0.46%)
     

  • DOW

    38,085.80
    -375.12 (-0.98%)
     

  • CRUDE OIL

    84.12
    +0.55 (+0.66%)
     

  • GOLD FUTURES

    2,360.90
    +18.40 (+0.79%)
     

  • NIKKEI 225

    37,934.76
    +306.28 (+0.81%)
     

  • HANG SENG

    17,651.15
    +366.61 (+2.12%)
     

  • DAX

    18,048.20
    +130.92 (+0.73%)
     

  • CAC 40

    8,035.98
    +19.33 (+0.24%)
     
PROPERTY:

9 luxury homes to consider if money is no object

Ever thought about what a multimillion pound budget would buy you?

Travel stocks knock Britain's FTSE after oil surge; LSE slumps

Reuters - UK Focus

* FTSE 100 down 1.3 pct

* Airlines and travel firms down as Yemen air strikes begin

* LSE slumps after Borse Dubai sells stake

* ARM extends losses amid tech selloff

By Alistair Smout and Francesco Canepa

LONDON, March 26 (Reuters) - 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.

ADVERTISEMENT

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 (LSE: CCL.L - news) 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 (Other OTC: LDNXF - news) 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.

(Additional reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta; Editing by Keith Weir and John Stonestreet)