LONDON MARKET OPEN: Travel Stocks Sold After Paris Terror Attacks

LONDON (Alliance News) - London-listed equities reversed initial losses to trade mixed just after the open Monday, but travel stocks remained lower after last Friday's terrorist attacks in Paris.

Eight attacks were launched over a timespan of about 30 minutes at the Stade de France national sports stadium, the Bataclan concert hall, and at several restaurants and bars, leaving 129 people dead so far and another 352 injured, 99 of them seriously.

On Friday, French President Francois Hollande called it an "act of war". France launched air strikes Sunday against the Islamic State in its stronghold of al-Raqqa in Syria, in what Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said was a reaction to the Paris attacks.

The attacks have hurt the share prices of London-listed travel stocks in particular on Monday. In the FTSE 100, International Consolidated Airlines Group was down 3.5%, cruise operator Carnival traded down 2.9%, tour operator TUI AG was down 3.4% and easyJet was down 2.0%. In the FTSE 250, Wizz Air Holdings traded down 2.2% and Thomas Cook Group was down 2.1%.

The large-cap FTSE 100 index was up 0.1% at 6,122.18 points, wile the mid-cap FTSE 250 was down 0.3% at 16,732.29, and the AIM All-Share index was down 0.3% at 729.98.

In France, the CAC 40 index was down 0.8%, while the DAX 30 in Frankfurt traded down 0.6%.

Asian stocks ended largely lower. The Japanese Nikkei 225 index closed down 1.0% after the Japanese economy was reported to have fallen into another recession. In China, the Hang Seng closed down 1.7%, but the Shanghai Composite added 0.7%.

In London, gold miners Randgold Resources, up 2.2% and Fresnillo, up 1.7% were up after a rise in the price of gold. Just after the London open, the metal was quoted at USD1,092.59 an ounce compared to USD1,082.40 an ounce at the UK equity market closing bell Friday.

Taylor Wimpey was one of the top gainers in the FTSE 100, up 1.3%. The company continued the string of good news from the UK housebuilding sector as it said the market has continued to be very positive and its sales rate has increased in the second half.

Taylor said high levels of customer confidence and demand have been converted into increased sales and healthy sales price growth, boosted by a wide range of mortgage products currently available and tighter lending requirements, keeping monthly payments sustainable and affordable.

Building products company SIG was the best performer in the FTSE 250, up 5.9%. The company said trading improved in October, following the profit warning it issued last month as it was hit by sluggish conditions in its key markets.

In October, SIG had said sales had slowed sharply in the third quarter to end September, primarily due to tough conditions in its European markets and also thanks to a weaker-than-expected UK repair, maintenance and improvement market. On Monday, the group said trading had improved in October and affirmed that reduced full-year guidance.

Diploma said its pretax profit and revenue edged higher in its recently-ended financial year, albeit as sales were held back in the second half by softer industrial markets and cost-cutting in the healthcare sector.

The FTSE 250-listed technical products and services company said its pretax profit for the year to the end of September was GBP51.8 million, compared to GBP49.8 million a year earlier, as revenue rose to GBP333.8 million from GBP305.8 million. The stock traded up 5.3%.

Ground engineering company Keller Group said it is on track to meet market expectations for 2015 after an in-line second half so far.

The FTSE 250-listed company, which provides engineering services for ground structures, primarily for construction projects but also for underground structures, said said overall trading in the four months to the end of October had been in line with its expectations. Keller traded up 3.2%.

Still ahead in the economic calendar, eurozone consumer price index data for October are scheduled to be released at 1000 GMT, with the German Buba monthly report due at 1100 GMT.

The German Buba report is released by Deutsche Bundesbank and contains relevant articles, speeches, statistical tables. It provides a detailed analysis of current and future economic conditions from the bank's viewpoint.

In the US, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York's manufacturing index is expected to be published at 1330 GMT.

By Neil Thakrar; neilthakrar@alliancenews.com; @NeilThakrar1

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