Sector movers: Travel and Leisure names, banks pace gains

Autos and Parts paced gains in a mixed day for stocks in London, alongside an advance in Travel and Leisure names.

Boosting the latter was RyanAir Holdings after the low cost carrier posted full-year adjusted profits after tax that were only just shy of 2018's record level.

Banks also did well with NatWest in focus after the lender announced that it would repurchase 469.2m shares from the UK government, trimming the state's stake from 40% to 38.69%.

StanChart and HSBC also pushed higher as analysts at Barclays informed clients of the results of their two weeks in Asia meeting with investors, policy makers and management at the two lenders.

They said they had come away with greater conviction on the improving outlook for growth, earnings at capital returns for the two banks.

"Despite complex geopolitics, valuation for HSBC in particular is highly attractive, one of our key OWs across European banks."

Top performing sectors so far today

Automobiles & Parts 1,930.67 +2.17%

Personal Goods 32,706.00 +1.49%

Travel & Leisure 7,914.66 +1.10%

Non-life Insurance 3,269.07 +1.03%

Banks 3,657.91 +0.98%

Bottom performing sectors so far today

Electronic & Electrical Equipment 10,429.34 -1.06%

Personal Care, Drug and Grocery Stores 4,353.82 -0.53%

Medical Equipment and Services 11,028.25 -0.48%

Oil, Gas and Coal 8,268.68 -0.36%

Precious Metals and Mining 11,001.71 -0.33%