UK Indexes Track Lower; TUI, BA Drop

Mayank Mehta
19 Apr, 2010
New York City

UK stocks closed lower after airlines and airport operators and banks led the decliners. Banks declined on the worries that regulators may tighten scrutiny after the U.S. regulator accused Goldman Sachs of mortgage securities fraud.

[R]4:00 PM London, 11:00 AM New York – UK stocks closed lower after airlines and airport operators and banks led the decliners. Banks declined on the worries that regulators may tighten scrutiny after the U.S. regulator accused Goldman Sachs of mortgage securities fraud.[/R]

UK stocks closed lower after airlines and airport operators and banks led the decliners. Banks declined on the worries that regulators may tighten scrutiny after the U.S. regulator accused Goldman Sachs of mortgage securities fraud. UK and German regulators are requesting more information from the U.S. broker.

Worldwide airline association lifted its daily loss to $300 million from $200 million after much of the airspace in Europe remained closed for the fifth day in a row. The ash cloud after the eruption of volcano in Iceland has forced the cancellation of 81,000 flights disrupting trans-Atlantic traffic.

Airlines are pushing for the easing of restriction after the industry association lifted a daily loss to $300 million. The London Book Fair is expected to draw only 40% of the speakers and international visitors and the World Retail Congress rescheduled its gathering to October.

British Air declined 1.4% to 231.7 pence after the carrier estimated daily loss of as much as 20 million pounds. Thomas Cook, the second largest tour operator declined 1.6% and TUI Travel dropped 1.2%.

In London FTSE 100 Index closed lower 16.05 or 0.28% to 5,727.91 and the pound edged lower to close at $1.528 and to close at €1.135.

Gainers & Losers

888 Holdings plc rose 1.1% to 101.30 pence after Dragonfish, the business to business (B2B) division of online gaming outfit announced a long-term agreement with Harrah''s Interactive Entertainment, Inc. a subsidiary of Harrah''s Entertainment, Inc to provide services to support the UK launch and roll-out of HIE''s World Series of Poker and Caesars Casino brands.

Alliance Trust PLC fell 0.2% to 345.40 pence and the investment company said 2009 revenues fell 20% to £93.7 million from £117.3 million a year ago. Net profit for the year 69.57 pence per diluted share.

AMEC plc fell 0.4% to 847.50 pence after the engineering and project management group and its joint venture partners secured a three-year extension worth €200 million per year for the services contract for the assets known as Shell ONEgas Southern North Sea.

Balfour Beatty plc rose 0.2% to 298.00 pence after the international infrastructure group, announces today that it has been appointed as preferred bidder by Ealing Council for their £300 million school building program.

Cairn Energy PLC decreased 0.8% to 407.70 pence after MedOil, a wholly owned subsidiary of the company completed an exploration well offshore Tunisia in the Louza block.

Games Workshop Group PLC closed unchanged at 378.00 pence after the company reported in brief update to its January statement that trading for the four months up to April 4 has been in-line with the board''s expectations.

Kewill plc closed unchanged at 99.00 pence after the logistics software developer said trading statement for the year ending March 2010 is in-line with consensus expectations. The group ended the period with net cash of £17 million compared to £4 million a year ago with £7.2 million of the increase due to a cash raise during the period.

PartyGaming plc fell 0.9% to 309.30 pence after the online poker and casino group today announced its second B2B deal in France with an exclusive multi-year agreement to provide a white label online poker service for AB Groupe, one of the country’s leading TV broadcasters.

The Sage Group PLC added 0.5% to 256.00 pence after the software company confirmed that Chief Executive Paul Walker, Chief Executive has resigned from the from the company, after sixteen years as Chief Executive and twenty-six years with the company.

SOCO International plc fell 0.06% to 1,652.00 pence after the oil and gas explorer secured the services of the onshore drilling rig, Caroil #1, owned by CAROIL SAS, for its exploration drilling program in the Nganzi Block, onshore the Democratic Republic of Congo (Kinshasa). The contract is for two firm and two contingent wells.

TUI Travel PLC dropped 2.3% to 285.00 pence after the company confirmed that as of Sunday April 18, it had approximately 100,000 customers who were due to have returned home from holiday, but have been unable to as a result of the closure of much of Northern Europe’s airspace since Thursday, caused by volcanic dust in the atmosphere.

FTSE 100 Index Movers

Of the stocks in the FTSE 100 index, 23 increased, 77 declined and 2 were unchanged.

Old Mutual Plc decliners in the FTSE 100 index with a loss of 2.40% followed by losses in Land Securities Group Plc of 2.30%, in Aviva Plc of 2.14%, in Vedanta Resources Plc of 2.00%, and in Kazakhmys Plc of 1.94%.

The Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc led gainers in the FTSE 100 index with a rise of 3.83% followed by increase in Autonomy Corporation Plc of 1.90%, in Associated British Foods Plc of 1.05%, in Lloyds Banking GroupPlc of 0.94%, and in British American Tobacco Plc of 0.79%.