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London open: Stocks in the red; IAG tanks on BA chaos
London stocks were weaker in early trade, with IAG suffering the heaviest losses following an IT outage at British Airways that has caused three days of disruptions for passengers.
At 0830 BST, the FTSE 100 was down 0.6% to 7,502.57, while over in Europe, the main benchmark Stoxx 600 was down 0.4% amid concerns about an early election in Italy and the possibility that Greece might forego its next bailout payment.
Meanwhile, the pound was flat against the dollar at 1.2831 as the latest Survation poll revealed that the Tory lead over Labour has dropped to six percentage points.
Spreadex analyst Connor Campbell said sterling “is struggling to substantially move away from its recent lows” due to “continued election-fretting”.
In corporate news, British Airways parent International Consolidated Airlines tanked 4% following an IT outage at BA that led to a weekend of chaos and cancellations. BA’s IT systems are now up and running and the airline said it will be operating a full flight schedule at Heathrow and Gatwick.
Royal Bank of Scotland was also in the red after a group of investors agreed on Monday to settle with the bank over claims they were misled about its health before it launched a £12bn rights issue back in 2008.
Shopping centre operator Intu Properties slipped as it announced that it and TH Real Estate – on behalf of its pan-European investment vehicle, the European Cities Fund – had agreed to form a joint venture to own Madrid Xanadú shopping centre in Spain.
On the upside, London Stock Exchange Group nudged up as it struck a deal to buy US bank Citigroup’s fixed income indices and analytics businesses for $685m (£535m) cash, while Anglo American edged higher after saying it has completed the sale of its 83.33% interest in the Dartbrook coal mine located in the Hunter Valley, New South Wales, Australia, to Australian Pacific Coal.
Retirement housebuilder McCarthy & Stone was in the black after it appointed John Tonkiss as its group chief operating officer with effect from 1 June.
CLS Holdings gained after announcing the acquisition of a multi-let office property in Dortmund Germany, for €35.6m after costs from an unnamed US investment manager, while Allied Minds was on the front foot as it made Jill Smith’s appointment as chief executive permanent, having hired her on an interim basis in March.
There are no major UK data releases due.
