The airlines enjoyed a positive day, with EasyJet up 4.5 per cent and Ryanair up 1.8 per cent. Aer Lingus parent International Airlines Group meanwhile finished the day up 2 per cent.
The muted session came as small falls for the financial sector were outweighed by gains elsewhere, including for some of the retailers.Online retailer THG made what might be the day’s biggest splash as it revealed it had been approached by a potential buyer. Shares closed up close to 32 per cent after the business revealed that US buyout firm Apollo might be interested in a deal.
The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 were IAG, up 4.35p to 150.3p, RS Group, up 24.2p to 873.2p, Weir Group, up 45.5p to 1,937p, Ashtead, up 111p to 4,791p, and Ocado, up 12p to 522p. There were losses also for the Dax in Germany, which fell by 0.1 per cent, while France’s Cac 40 dropped 0.3 per cent. The euro fell 0.7 per cent against the dollar to $1.0917.US stocks slipped after strong data on manufacturing activity in New York state supported the case for another interest rate increase in May, while investors awaited more quarterly reports to gauge the health of corporate America.