LONDON MARKETS: British Stocks Advance, As BP, IAG Climb

By Steve Goldstein, MarketWatch

U.K. stocks lumbered higher on Monday, catching up to the stellar gains made on Wall Street in the previous session.

The FTSE 100 gained 0.35% to 7180.30 as market heavyweights including BP (BP.LN) , Vodafone Group (VOD.LN) and Royal Dutch Shell (RDSA.LN) moved higher.

The Dow industrials surged on Friday after solid jobs data, though it coughed back part of those gains on Monday on concerns over U.S.-China trade talks.

British Airways owner International Consolidated Airlines Group (IAG.LN) rose 3% as the company said September passenger traffic was up 0.6% on the year, and that its load factor rose 0.7 percentage points.

Outside the FTSE 100, SIG (SHI.LN) tumbled 16% as the building materials company said a downturn in U.K. and German economies means its fiscal year underlying profitability will be "significantly worse" than previous expectations. SIG also announced plans to sell its air handling and building solutions divisions.

"While the challenging market backdrop does not come as a total surprise, the extent of the deterioration does and the impact that it will have on our forecasts," said Robert Eason, an analyst at Goodbody Stockbrokers. SIG did say the disposals will "transform" the balance sheet.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 07, 2019 10:06 ET (14:06 GMT)

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