LONDON MARKETS: Airlines, Oil Stocks Put FTSE 100 Under Pressure

By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch

Pound hovers around $1.30

Blue-chip stocks in the U.K. fell Monday, with airlines pulled lower after a warning from Ryanair and OPEC's monthly meeting casting a shadow on oil and gas shares.

The FTSE 100 index dropped 0.4% to 7,422.66, with all sectors moving lower. The benchmark on Friday lost 0.5% (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/ftse-100-edges-up-reaches-for-a-weekly-win-2017-07-21), but notched a weekly advance of 1%, its best such showing late May, according to FactSet data.

Monday's session got under way with the oil and gas group being dragged lower by a decline in oil prices (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/oil-prices-steady-with-all-eyes-on-opec-meeting-2017-07-24) . Energy major Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSB.LN) shed 0.7% and rival BP PLC (BP.LN) gave up 1.2%.

Investors are watching for word from a highly-anticipated meeting of oil ministers from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and some non-OPEC producers on Monday. Officials are expected to discuss how producers are complying with quotas set under an output cap agreement that kicked in Jan. 1.

Read:How OPEC committee's meeting could make or break oil prices (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/how-opec-committees-coming-meeting-could-make-or-break-oil-prices-2017-07-20)

Airlines descend: Shares in easyJet PLC (EZJ.LN) and International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (IAG.LN) , which runs British Airways, fell 3.5% and 2.6% respectively. The moves came after budget carrier Ryanair Holdings PLC (RYAAY) warned about pressure on fares because of overcapacity. (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/ryanair-profit-soars-55-warns-on-overcapacity-2017-07-24)

Ryanair stuck to its outlook that ticket prices in the first half, including the key July-September travel period, could fall on average 5%, and decline by 8% in the October-March period. Off the FTSE 100, shares of Ryanair stumbled 3.8%.

Other movers: Meanwhile, Reckitt Benckiser Group PLC (RB.LN) fell 1.9%. The consumer products heavyweight said like-for-like sales fell 2% during the second quarter (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/reckitt-benckiser-profit-rises-on-reduced-costs-2017-07-24), hurt by a recent cyberattack that affected its operations and those of numerous companies.

The pound bought $1.3009, not far from $1.2997 late Friday in New York.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 24, 2017 04:11 ET (08:11 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.