LONDON (Alliance News) - UK equities started Thursday's trading session lower while Thomas Cook Group shares were in demand after the company said that summer holiday sales were in line with expectations and that it has had an encouraging start to winter trading.
The travel operator said that all markets performed in line, with Northern Europe achieving particularly strong trading in the second half of the year. The summer season is 91% sold, in line with the same time last year, and all major source markets have seen improved bookings for the winter season, Thomas Cook said.
"Our trading performance for the summer season has progressed well, despite the impact of external shocks in certain destination markets, as previously announced. With more than a third of the Winter 2015/16 season sold, the bookings profile for next year is also encouraging," Chief Executive Peter Fankhauser said in a statement.
The company's shares were up 4.3%, making them the best performers in the FTSE 250.
The FTSE 100 index read down 0.4% at 6,006.44 points, the FTSE 250 was down 0.2% at 16,628.14, and the AIM All-Share index traded down 0.1% at 730.49.
In Europe, the CAC 40 in Paris was down 0.1%, while the DAX 30 in Frankfurt traded up 0.2%. Volkswagen shares were up 3.5%, with investors still responding to the resignation of Chief Executive Martin Winterkom, who took responsibility for the emissions testing scandal that has played havoc with its reputation and market value.
In Asia, the Japanese Nikkei 225 index closed down 2.8%, while the Hang Seng was trading down 0.8% and the Shanghai Composite was up 0.9%.
Elsewhere on the London Stock Exchange, Next shares led the FTSE 100 gainers, up 1.3%, after Nomura upgraded the fashion retailer to Buy from Neutral, while sugar and sweeteners company Tate & Lyle shares were up 1.6% after Liberum upgraded it to Buy from Sell.
On the fallers side, miners and oil companies were in the red, while Old Mutual shares were off 3.0% after going ex-dividend.
Poundland Group traded down 4.6%. The discount retailer said it will raise GBP50 million through the placing of shares in order to fund its acquisition of 99p Stores Ltd, and said that it expects core pretax profit for its full financial year to meet market expectations, although it will be weighted towards the second half.
In the AIM All-Share index, Independent Oil & Gas shares were up 20% after it said it has made significant progress on its Skipper licence in the North Sea and said it has reached an agreement to extend its funding deal with Darwin Strategic.
Independent Oil & Gas said planning work on the Skipper well is now at an advanced stage and essential long-lead items have been ordered in order to facilitate the start of drilling later in the year.
Security and risk management consultancy Falanx Group shares were trading 16% higher after the company announced a slew of new contract wins for its cyber security and corporate intelligence businesses. It said its cyber arm has entered into deal with three financial services companies, which it did not name, to become their preferred cyber security provider. One of the bank is an international trading house, while the others are boutique advisory firms, it said.
Strat Aero reported a wider pretax loss in the first half of 2015 and said its revenue was "extremely disappointing" as it faced delays with contracts, and said it has appointed Tony Dunleavy as the company's new chief executive. He replaces Russell Peck, who has stepped down with immediate effect.
The aerospace company, which provides training, management systems and consultancy services to the aviation market, said that its pretax loss in the six months ended June 30 was USD1.3 million, wider than the USD1.2 million it reported for the whole of 2014. Shares in the company traded down 17%.
Investors also are looking ahead to US Federal Reserve Janet Yellen's speech at 2200 BST at the University of Massachusetts Amherst about inflation dynamics and monetary policy. Yellen's speech comes a day after Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart, a voting member of the Fed's policy-setting group, said he believes worries about the global economy have become exaggerated and that the likelihood of substantial spillover to the US economy from external developments will be small.
Also in the economic calendar, the German IFO business sentiment index is at 0900 BST and British Bankers' Association mortgage approvals are at 0930 BST. In the afternoon, there are US continuing and initial jobless claims at 1330 BST alongside durable goods orders and Chicago Fed national activity index. Following this are US new home sales at 1500 BST and Kansas Fed manufacturing survey at 1600 BST.
By Neil Thakrar; neilthakrar@alliancenews.com; @NeilThakrar1
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