London’s FTSE 100 was down 0.5% at 7,220.67 in afternoon trade on Friday.
Travel and leisure shares were under the cosh on news that Austria will impose a national lockdown from next week. Engine maker Rolls-Royce, British Airways owner IAG, GKN owner Melrose and caterer Compass all fell.
IG market analyst Joshua Mahony said: “With Austrian cases surging over 400% in the last month alone, they do stand out as a particularly bad case when set against many of their European peers.
“However, with Covid cases turning upwards across the likes of Germany, France, and Portugal, there is a fear that today’s announcement is indicative of where other European nations could find themselves in two to three weeks’ time.”
B&Q owner Kingfisher slumped as it reported a 2.4% drop in like-for-like sales for the third quarter but said annual results would be near the top of guidance.
On the upside, Ocado rallied to the top of the index on the back of a Deutsche Bank research note on Marks & Spencer, which suggested it could buy out the online supermarket.
The bank said: “Cash flow is no longer being squandered on an unsustainable dividend but saved to recover the investment grade credit rating that may be required to buy out Ocado.”
FTSE 100 – Risers
Ocado Group (OCDO) 1,919.00p 8.05%
Royal Mail (RMG) 494.60p 2.89%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RKT) 6,282.00p 2.88%
Auto Trader Group (AUTO) 735.00p 2.23%
Rightmove (RMV) 757.40p 2.08%
SEGRO (SGRO) 1,392.50p 2.05%
Spirax-Sarco Engineering (SPX) 16,625.00p 1.93%
Sage Group (SGE) 806.00p 1.92%
AstraZeneca (AZN) 8,536.00p 1.85%
Croda International (CRDA) 10,030.00p 1.70%
FTSE 100 – Fallers
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 133.16p -5.88%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 145.58p -5.66%
Melrose Industries (MRO) 158.70p -4.86%
Compass Group (CPG) 1,491.50p -4.45%
Kingfisher (KGF) 323.50p -4.06%
BT Group (BT.A) 160.00p -4.05%
M&G (MNG) 191.45p -3.75%
BP (BP.) 324.15p -3.66%
Royal Dutch Shell ‘B’ (RDSB) 1,607.20p -3.40%
Royal Dutch Shell ‘A’ (RDSA) 1,604.80p -3.37%
