Footsie stays above 6,000 despite dip

The introduction of local lockdowns and curfews in parts of England failed to scare away too many investors from the London Stock Exchange by the end of trading for the week.

But the blue- chip FTSE 100 index still closed the day down 42.87 points, or 0.7 per cent, at 6,007.05 - with traders waiting to see the impact from increases in coronavirus cases.

Investors are also waiting to see what the impact will be from a US ban on some Chinese apps in the country introduced on Sunday.

Spreadex analyst Connor Campbell explained; “It is going to be interesting to see over the rest of September whether we return to a situation where daily covid- 19 case and death figures from the UK and across Europe become market movers like they were at earlier points in the pandemic.”

Back in March, leading indexes plunged by record levels, with daily falls wiping billions off share prices, although it has since staged some recoveries.

In mainland Europe, the CAC 40 in Paris ended down 1.2 per cent, while the DAX 30 in Frankfurt fell 0.7 per cent.

“The atmosphere across stock markets is turning sour as the weekend looms, as investors fret about possible retaliatory measures from China after the US announced a ban on key apps from Sunday,” IG chief market analyst Chris Beauchamp said.

The biggest hits came in the airline and travel sector as the prospect of lockdown looked like impacting the October half- term school holidays.

British Airways and Aer Lingus owner, International Consolidated Airlines ( IAG) saw shares fall 18.9p to 110.55p - a drop of 14.6 per cent.

Intercontinental Hotels also fell 194p to 4,137p and Easyjet fell 54.6p to 539.6p.

The moves followed news from Ryanair, which said it will cut capacity for October by 20 per cent above the 20% cuts previously announced last month over EU changes on travel restrictions.

Banks also took a knock as talks over a possible Bank of England rates cut turning negative spooked some investors.

Natwest lost 3.17p to 96.88p and Barclays closed down 3.12p at 97.42p.