FTSE 100 watch: Airlines and stronger pound pressure Footsie

The UK benchmark index has started the week on the back foot, falling deep into the red, amid pressure from a stronger pound, and a selloff in airlines. Reckitt Benckiser (LON:RB) meanwhile has lost ground after updating investors on its half-year performance this morning.

As of 12:27 BST, the FTSE 100 had lost 74.04 points to stand 0.99 percent lower at 7,378.87. The blue-chip index has come under pressure amid a rise in sterling, which is weighing on stocks in international exposure, and with blue-chip airline shares losing altitude after Ryanair posted its first-quarter results, saying that it expects the pricing environment to remain very competitive in the second half of the year. Shares in easyJet (LON:EZJ) are 2.86 percent down at 1,264.00p, while British Airways and Iberia parent International Consolidated Airlines Group (LON:IAG) has given up 5.76 percent to 571.00p.

“The FTSE is falling back this morning, following a strong end to last week. However, with the index having broken key resistance levels on the way up, this current pullback looks like a retracement of the move from the 7,357 swing low,” Joshua Mahoney at IG commented in a note, adding that bullish positions were favoured between 7,418 and 7,394 points, and that a break below the 7,357-point level would be required to negate the bullish outlook.

In individual Footsie fallers, Reckitt Benckiser has lost ground after posting a drop in first-half revenue, as it continues to recover from a cyber-attack in June.
“We consider the quality of these results disappointing for a company like RB, and expect the stock to underperform today particularly given management’s commentary around 2017 outlook,” analysts at UBS said in a note, as quoted by Reuters. Reckitt Benckiser’s shares are currently changing hands 2.88 percent lower at 7,698.00p.
**The FTSE 100 was 0.90 percent down at 7,385.89 points as of 12:42 BST on Monday, 24 July 2017.**