Shares in British Airways owner IAG fell on Friday morning
(Picture: Steve Parsons/PA Wire)The FTSE 100 ended a choppy July on something of a downer this morning as traders took stock of a world still in flux.
Investor confidence has been lifted by a succession of blowout results with bumper dividends, share buybacks and growth, but as the City headed into a wet weekend the excitement was less palpable.
London’s blue-chip index lost 1% in early trading, putting it on track for its first monthly loss after five straight months of gains.
The FTSE 100 then settled back to be 53.07 points lower at 7025.57.
Miners were among the fallers, with Glencore down 9.1p, or 2.76%, to 320.35p. The group said production at its key copper and zinc businesses met first-half guidance, but it added that planned coal and nickel volumes were affected by a range of factors during the period.
Shares in Rio Tinto were also down 159p to 6129p, and BHP was off 47.5p to 2322.25p.
British Airways owner IAG was one of the biggest fallers as it laid bare how the pandemic hit airlines in the first half.
But there were some companies in the top flight that were in favour, such as Rightmove, up 6.4p to 686.6p.
The househunting website benefited from the race for space as families reassessed their property needs during the virus crisis, while the stamp duty holiday enticed legions of buyers.
The firm said website visits in the six months to June were up 56% to 1.4 billion, from 890 million a year earlier.
It posted sales of £149.9 million, up 58% from last year.
The FTSE 250 was also down 122.44 points at 22927.98, with travel stocks declining, possibly on the back of IAG’s update.
TUI fell 14.2p to 337.9p, and easyJet declined 32.8p to 848.4p.
Cineworld also fell 1.4p to 65.4p. It announced that it has secured a further $200 million in new loans from existing lenders, and the relaxing of covenants on some of its debt facilities.
