London close: Ebola and economic woes hit stocks

London shares were on their sickbed on Tuesday as investors fretted about the Ebola virus and disappointing economic data, although takeover activity buoyed miners.

The FTSE 100 Index closed 68.07 points adrift at 6495.58 as a fresh case of Ebola in Spain hit shares in airlines and travel companies.

British Airways and Iberia owner International Airlines Group flew 25.7p lower to 345.6p, EasyJet descended 78p to 1389p, cruise operator Carnival sank 167p to 2328p and TUI Travel was off 15.3p at 382p. Investors also booked out of Intercontinental Hotels by 85p to 2244p.

There was downbeat economic news on both sides of the Channel as a report predicted that UK economic growth slowed to 0.7% in the third quarter from 0.8% in the previous three months. Official data also revealed flat industrial production in the UK for the month of August, but rising 2.5% year-on-year.

The Dax fell in Frankfurt as German industrial production racked up its biggest monthly drop since 2009, declining 4% against expectations of a lesser fall of -1.5%.

Back in London, mining shares got a boost from news that Rio Tinto had rebuffed a takeover bid from rival Glencore in August. Rio’s shares closed 23.5p ahead at 3020.5p and Anglo American climbed 27p to 1375p, but Glencore fell 8.3p to 331.05p.

Oil service groups slipped as Liberum Capital said it feared that a fresh cost-cutting drive by oil companies could cause a prolonged slowdown in demand for the services they supply.

The broker kept its ‘sell’ rating on Amec, whose shares leaked 16p to 1065p, and reduced Hunting, Technip and Wood Group to ‘sell’. Hunting dropped 41p to 835p, Technip’s shares fell €0.96 to €62.20 in Paris and Wood’s stock reversed 21p to 697.5p back in London. Other players in the sector also had a bad day, with Weir Group falling 75p to 2293p and Petrofac backtracking 20.5p to 962p.

Packaging and distribution companies were also on the slide with Mondi dropping 33p to 973p, Bunzl weakening 31p to 1578p and Rexam declining 5.7p to 476.7p.

Market Movers
techMARK 2,747.45 -1.63%
FTSE 100 6,495.58 -1.04%
FTSE 250 15,099.22 -1.16%

FTSE 100 - Risers
Tesco (TSCO) 182.60p +3.31%
Anglo American (AAL) 1,375.00p +2.00%
Royal Mail (RMG) 395.60p +0.89%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 3,020.50p +0.78%
Aberdeen Asset Management (ADN) 395.20p +0.56%
Coca-Cola HBC AG (CDI) (CCH) 1,330.00p +0.23%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,129.50p +0.04%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 345.60p -6.92%
Carnival (CCL) 2,328.00p -6.69%
easyJet (EZJ) 1,389.00p -5.32%
TUI Travel (TT.) 382.00p -3.85%
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 2,244.00p -3.65%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 977.00p -3.55%
Mondi (MNDI) 973.00p -3.28%
Weir Group (WEIR) 2,293.00p -3.17%
Intertek Group (ITRK) 2,516.00p -2.89%
Whitbread (WTB) 4,029.00p -2.68%

FTSE 250 - Risers
Tullett Prebon (TLPR) 271.60p +4.86%
Evraz (EVR) 118.70p +4.12%
Cineworld Group (CINE) 329.50p +2.90%
Poundland Group (PLND) 320.00p +2.89%
Cairn Energy (CNE) 183.50p +2.00%
NMC Health (NMC) 499.50p +1.94%
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 58.95p +1.90%
Stock Spirits Group (STCK) 305.00p +1.84%
African Barrick Gold (ABG) 205.70p +1.83%
Ophir Energy (OPHR) 222.80p +1.78%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
Spirent Communications (SPT) 77.10p -21.84%
EnQuest (ENQ) 96.60p -6.12%
Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 112.60p -5.38%
Hunting (HTG) 835.00p -4.68%
RPS Group (RPS) 244.00p -4.54%
Mitchells & Butlers (MAB) 352.10p -4.09%
TalkTalk Telecom Group (TALK) 272.00p -4.06%
Enterprise Inns (ETI) 116.70p -4.03%
Big Yellow Group (BYG) 493.00p -3.52%
Balfour Beatty (BBY) 168.40p -3.38%

FTSE TechMARK - Risers
Filtronic (FTC) 20.88p +3.09%
RM (RM.) 150.00p +1.01%
Torotrak (TRK) 16.75p +0.75%
Consort Medical (CSRT) 952.50p +0.53%
Skyepharma (SKP) 317.75p +0.32%
XP Power Ltd. (DI) (XPP) 1,530.00p +0.26%

FTSE TechMARK - Fallers
Anite (AIE) 81.25p -2.69%
NCC Group (NCC) 187.00p -1.97%
Kofax Limited (DI) (KFX) 481.75p -1.53%
Gresham Computing (GHT) 100.50p -1.47%
KCOM Group (KCOM) 92.75p -1.33%
SDL (SDL) 332.00p -1.12%
E2V Technologies (E2V) 157.00p -0.95%
Microgen (MCGN) 122.00p -0.81%
BATM Advanced Communications Ltd. (BVC) 16.00p -0.78%
Optos (OPTS) 200.75p -0.74%