London index goes into reverse

Three days of gains for the FTSE 100 petered out yesterday as London’s main market went back into reverse.

Shares in the UK’s 100 biggest listed companies shed more than 5% of their value as the session closed 304.4 points lower at 5,510.33.

The FTSE 250 and Alternative Investment Market fell by 4% and 2.2% respectively.

US, French, German, Brazilian and Australian bourses were also in the red as nervousness crept back into global markets following their recent boost from government aid packages to mitigate

“Holiday firm Tui was down around 9% at 36.8p”

the economic impact of Covid-19.

Commodity markets remained volatile too, with Brent crude oil down nearly 4% at $27.57 per barrel by the London Stock Exchange close.

Troubled travel and transport stocks continued their recent convulsions.

Holiday firm Tui was down around 9% at 36.8p despite Germany’s government committing to a loan of nearly £1.6 billion to the company from state-owned development bank KfW.

Aviation services firm John Menzies saw its shares fall nearly 11% to 74.8p after it said it had laid off 17,500 staff – more than half of its global workforce – because Covid-19 had caused a major downturn in airport work.