(Alliance News) - Stock prices in London opened mixed on Friday ahead of the US jobs report for May at 1330 BST, while airlines were under pressure after the UK government moved Portugal to its amber travel list to guard against Covid-19 variants.
The FTSE 100 index was down 2.18 points at 7,062.45. The mid-cap FTSE 250 index was up 8.77 points, or 0.1%, at 22,811.17. The AIM All-Share index was flat at 1,250.44.
The Cboe UK 100 index was down 0.1% at 704.10. The Cboe 250 was down 0.1% at 20,551.76, and the Cboe Small Companies was flat at 15,229.25.
In Paris the CAC 40 was flat, while the DAX 30 in Frankfurt was up 0.2%.
In the FTSE 100, AstraZeneca was up 0.5% after the Anglo-Swedish drugmaker said drug lynparza reduced the risk of breast cancer recurrence by 42% in phase 3 trials.
The Cambridge, England-based firm said that in the adjuvant treatment of patients with germline BRCA-mutated high-risk early breast cancer, lynparza reduced the risk of recurrence by 42% in the OlympiA phase 3 trial. BRCA refers to the breast cancer gene.
AstraZeneca also said it has appointed Aradhana Sarin as its new chief financial officer. The appointment is conditional upon the closing of the drugmaker's acquisition of Alexion Pharmaceuticals. Sarin, who is currently is CFO of Alexion, will succeed Marc Dunoyer who will step down as CFO and retire from AstraZeneca's board on August 1.
At the other end of the large-caps, British Airways parent International Consolidated Airlines Group was once again among the worst performers, down 2.3%, as the wider travel sector comes under renewed pressure.
Hopes for summer holidays abroad are fading after UK travel rules were tightened amid growing concerns over coronavirus variants and mutations, PA reported. Travel bosses are facing "another lost summer" after Portugal was added to the amber travel list just weeks after the holiday hotspot reopened for British tourists.
Urging caution ahead of the scheduled domestic unlock on June 21, UK Transport Secretary Grant Shapps blamed the move on "a sort of Nepal mutation of the so-called Indian variant" having been detected, and an increased test positivity rate in the country.
Heathrow boss John Holland-Kaye has accused the UK government of "all but guaranteeing another lost summer for the travel sector".
The news comes as it was revealed that the variant first identified in India is now the dominant Covid strain in the UK.
Portugal, including the islands of Madeira and the Azores, will be removed from the green list which exempts the need to quarantine on return from 4am on Tuesday, meaning travellers will be required to self-isolate for 10 days at home.
Budget airlines easyJet, Ryanair and Wizz air were down 2.4%, 1.3% and 2.5%, respectively. AIM-listed Jet2 was 0.2% lower. However, Anglo-German holiday operator Tui was up 0.1%.
Liberum analyst Gerald Khoo commented: "This seems likely to effectively shut down UK international leisure travel for at least the first part of the peak summer season. It seems unlikely that the decision will be reversed quickly. There is now a real risk that flying activity this summer could be weaker than Summer 2020, with concerns about Covid variants outweighing vaccination programme progress.
"The EU is currently pressing ahead with its travel passport scheme, to facilitate travel via vaccination or negative tests. However, the UK is one of the major sources of international tourists, so ongoing tight restrictions here will have a material impact on the airline industry. This supports our cautious stance on the airlines."
On AIM, boohoo Group was up 2.1% after Morgan Stanley upgraded the online fashion retailer to Equal Weight from Underweight.
The Japanese Nikkei 225 index closed down 0.4% on Friday. In China, the Shanghai Composite ended up 0.1%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was down 0.4%. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney closed up 0.5%.
The pound was quoted at USD1.4105 Friday morning, unchanged from USD1.4108 at the London equities close Thursday.
The euro stood at USD1.2110 early Friday, down from USD1.2125 late Thursday. Against the yen, the dollar was trading at JPY110.20, little changed from JPY110.27.
Brent oil was quoted at USD71.57 a barrel on Friday morning, up from USD71.25 late Thursday. Gold was priced at USD1,874.02 an ounce, marginally higher from USD1,869.72.
Friday's economic calendar also has UK construction PMI at 0930 BST and eurozone retail sales at 1000 BST.
By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com
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