FTSE 100 movers: Travel stocks take a hit; Polymetal shines
London’s FTSE 100 was down 2.2% at 7,417.55 in afternoon trade on Monday as worries about the spread of the coronavirus gripped markets.
Travel related- stocks IAG, InterContinental, easyJet and Carnival were all dented by worries about the impact of the coronavirus.
Aerospace and defence company Rolls-Royce was knocked lower after Citi cut its price target on the stock, while speciality chemicals group Johnson Matthey was weaker after a rating downgrade at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
Luxury fashion brand Burberry, which has big exposure to China, was also under the cosh, dented further by a rating downgrade at MainFirst.
Miners - which are heavily dependent on demand from China - were also down, with Anglo American and Rio Tinto both in the red.
On the upside, precious metals miner Polymetal shone as gold prices benefited from a flight to safety.
Elsewhere, Halma was on the front foot after saying it had made two acquisitions in the US and Australia for a combined £83.4m.
It bought NovaBone, a designer and manufacturer of US FDA-approved synthetic bone graft products, based in Florida, for £74m. It also purchased a 70% stake in FireMate, a Brisbane-based company which provides cloud-based fire protection maintenance software to fire contractors.
FTSE 100 - Risers
NMC Health (NMC) 1,407.00p 4.42%
Polymetal International (POLY) 1,281.00p 1.18%
National Grid (NG.) 1,016.20p 0.18%
Pearson (PSON) 584.30p 0.09%
Halma (HLMA) 2,157.00p -0.23%
United Utilities Group (UU.) 1,006.50p -0.35%
BT Group (BT.A) 170.04p -0.56%
Coca-Cola HBC AG (CDI) (CCH) 2,769.00p -0.68%
Severn Trent (SVT) 2,600.00p -0.69%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 6,098.00p -0.85%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 583.40p -6.05%
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 4,522.00p -5.91%
easyJet (EZJ) 1,405.00p -5.23%
Prudential (PRU) 1,344.00p -5.19%
Carnival (CCL) 3,260.00p -4.90%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 625.80p -4.89%
Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 2,659.00p -4.76%
Burberry Group (BRBY) 2,000.00p -4.72%
Anglo American (AAL) 2,031.50p -4.71%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 4,230.00p -4.70%