MARKET REPORT

LONDON markets drifted into the red as traders turned their focus to Federal Reserve boss Jerome Powell as he gave Wall Street a shot in the arm with a soft approach to inflation.

The FTSE 100 closed 45.61 points lower at 5,999.99 at the end of trading yesterday.

Travel companies had a rare uplift as airline operators welcomed a dip in the price of oil.

In company news, advertising giant WPP jumped in value despite losing nearly £2.6billion in the first six months of the year, as it surpassed a dire set of forecasts. It was 40.4p higher at 664.4p at the close.

The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 apart from WPP were IAG, up 10p at 216p, Compass, up 52p at 1,213.5p, and ITV, up 2.2p at 61.58p. The biggest fallers were Homeserve, down 45p at 1,293p, Persimmon, down 78p at 2,612p, and Johnson Matthey, down 67p at 2,374p.