Airlines led the London market lower on Tuesday as oil prices rose and fears about more terror attacks weighed.
Concern about higher fuel costs reduced shares in EasyJet (LON:EZJ) by 64p to 1582p. International Airlines Group (IAG) (LON:IAG) dropped 22p to 546p and Ryanair (LON:RYA) fell €0.39 to €13.86.
Oil prices were up as traders continued to take comfort from comments by Saudi Arabia that it would work with oil cartel OPEC to stabilize oil markets.
The price of a barrel of Brent crude rose 1.4% to US$45.47 and West Texas Intermediate put on 1.5% to US$42.4 a barrel.
Travel stocks also took a hit from continued worries about the security situation in Europe.
A survey by travel data analysts ForwardKeys showed that flight bookings to Paris collapsed in the week following the terrorist attacks.
Net bookings, which take into account both daily bookings and cancellations, were 101% down on the same period last year.
The group said the number of cancellations had now fallen considerably, but new reservations were proving slow to recover.
Ongoing concerns about falling commodity prices also fuelled a 45.12 point dip in the FTSE 100 Index to 6260.
News of better-than-expected German business confidence failed to prevent stock markets in Frankfurt and Paris heading south.
In the UK, the market awaiting of Bank of England governor Mark Carney’s testimony to the Treasury Select Committee for hints about future interest rate moves.
B&Q and Castorama owner Kingfisher (LON:KGF) was 1.2p off at 343.9p on news that soft French markets and currency headwinds had held back third quarter profits.
Defence support services group Babcock International (LON:BAB) fired up 43p to 1048p as it posted higher half-year revenue and profit.
Abzena (LON:ABZA) said it had made an important step to becoming a ‘self-sustaining’ life sciences business as it unveiled the £10mln acquisition of Philadelphia-based The Chemistry Research Solution alongside a £20mln City fundraiser. Shares fell 3p to 62p.
Sound Energy (LON:SOU) spurted 0.5p to 14.5p after saying increased availability of rigs in the oil price downturn had reduced the estimated cost of the Badile exploration well in northern Italy by at least €5mln.
MARKET PREVIEW
UK shares are tipped to start lower on Tuesday as trader sentiment is dented by commodity price falls and losses in the US overnight.
FTSE100 closed down 30 at 6,305 but is today called by financial spreadbetters at IG Index to open around a further 27 points lower.
The benchmark Dow Jones Industrial Index closed the session on Wall Street down 31 at 17,793, while the S&P500 and Nasdaq also lost ground slightly.
The Japanese markets re-opened after a holiday on a weaker note as a relatively stronger yen versus the US dollar weighed on the exports-oriented stocks.
In Asia trading appears mixed. The Nikkei 225 in Japan is up 46 points after being slightly lower earlier while China's Shanghai Composite Index is down 15 and investors do not have a lot of significant economic news to latch onto.
On the UK corporate front today, a notable reporter is Cineworld (LON:CNE), the movie theatre operator, and Cioty analysts expect earnings to be positive.
Despite the dearth of blockbusters, the release of the latest in the James Bond franchise, 'Spectre', is expected to have helped slowing admissions rates.