Sector movers: Travel stocks up, but miners slip back

Travel sector stocks were among the few to survive profit-taking on Friday as the weekend approached with the London market marginally in the red.

The blue chip FTSE 100 closed down 0.31% or 21.37 points at 6775.08 while the FTSE 250 was down 0.05% or 9.46 points at 17,755.91.

With oil benchmarks falling and Brent trading below $57 a barrel, oil and gas stocks led the sell-off as blue chips BP (down 1.20%), Royal Dutch (‘A’ shares down 1.17% / ‘B’ shares down 1.39%) and BG Group (down 0.60%) traded lower.

Midcaps Premier Oil (down 2.92%) and Nostrum Oil & Gas (down 2.72%) were among other to take a hit. Oilfield services companies slipped in to the red with Hunting (down 2%) leading the selloff, with rivals Petrofac (down 1.47%) and John Wood Group (1.37%) also trading lower.

Miners also ended the week on a low with the three-month futures contracts of primary aluminium (down 0.9%), copper (down 0.8%) , nickel (down 0.4%) and zinc (down 0.2%) in red territory on the London Metals Exchange.

Randgold Resources (down 2.01%) Frensillo (down 1.57%) and Anglo American (down 1.45%) were among the biggest blue chip fallers. Additionally, Polymetal International (down 4.67%) and Acacia Mining (down 2.84%) bore the brunt of the midcap selloff.

On the positive side, travel stocks got a boost as British Airways and Iberia parent International Consolidated Airlines Group (up 2.04%) moved a step closer to its takeover of Aer Lingus, as it announced that it’s been given the green light by just over half of its shareholders.

Earlier this week, the European Commission cleared the way for a deal after IAG agreed to give up some of its slots at Gatwick airport to allow other airlines to operate routes between London and Ireland, assuaging concerns about competition.

Others in the sector also benefitted with EasyJet (up 1.80%) and TUI (up 1.47%) on the up.