MONDAY MARKET CLOSE: Airlines nosedive

Airlines bore the brunt of a sell-off today as profit takers locked-in their gains.

Budget airline EasyJet fell 3.6 per cent to 1,328p, while British Airways-owner IAG was down 3.5 per cent at 312.2p. Both stocks have climbed by about 80 per cent since the turn of the year.

The FTSE 100 index was left in a holding pattern for most of the day, down 9.05 points at 6,574.34 amid thin trading.

Lorne Baring, managing director at B Capital, said: “Markets are generally paused. The UK has already been an out-performer this year and it is only natural that it can pause in August.”

Michael Hewson, analyst at CMC Markets, added that the quiet session was likely to foreshadow greater activity later in the week, with inflation and unemployment data due to be published, as well as the minutes of the latest meeting of the Bank of England’s monetary policy committee.

Insurance giant Prudential helped to limit the Footsie’s fall after strong growth in Asia helped it beat expectations with a 22 per cent rise in first-half profits. The stock closed up 4.1 per cent or 48p at 1,232p. Fellow insurer Standard Life climbed 5p to 370p.

Mining firms were also riding high on hopes they will benefit from rising Chinese demand, with silver miner Fresnillo topping the FTSE 100 movers board, climbing 68p to 1,103p, a rise of more than 6 per cent.

Meanwhile fellow miners Randgold Resources rose 119p to 4,841p and Vedanta Resources was up 24p to 1,266p.

The taxpayer-backed banks were on the front foot, with Royal Bank of Scotland up 3.9p to 329.5p and Lloyds Banking Group rising 0.38p to 75.49p.

Other heavyweight risers included G4S, which was up 8.6p to 244.1p, while pharmaceuticals company AstraZeneca climbed 36p to 3,271p.

Pawnbroker Harvey & Thompson (H&T) was the biggest faller on the Alternative Investment Market (Aim) – plunging 22.6 per cent or 38.5p to 132p – after splashing its interim dividend and warning it may close its remaining Gold Bar outlets due to falling gold prices.

Diageo, Scotland’s largest distiller, was also on the back foot – down 26p at 2,087p – after former Cadbury boss Todd Stitzer stood down as a non-executive director after nine years.