By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- The U.K.'s FTSE 100 edged lower
Thursday, with resource shares struggling, but a push higher in
travel companies easyJet PLC and TUI Travel PLC helped limit the
benchmark's loss.
Investors later in the session will look for the Bank of
England's policy statement, due at 12:00 p.m. London time. The bank
is expected to hold its key rate at a record low level of 0.5%.
The FTSE 100 slipped 0.1% to 6,708.14, on track for its second
consecutive decline.
Rio Tinto PLC shares were down 0.7%. Goldman Sachs said in a
note dated Dec. 3 that it's retaining its sell rating on the
iron-ore miner. It added that Rio Tinto is the most exposed in its
iron-ore coverage to continued pressure from additional supply and
moderating demand growth in China. Rio Tinto was removed from
Goldman's pan-European conviction sell list.
Oil stocks were again in the red, resuming a recent run of
declines as the oil industry grapples with a steep fall in crude
prices. Shares of Tullow Oil PLC fell 0.9%, BP PLC moved 0.7% lower
and Royal Dutch Shell PLC gave up 0.6%.
But easyJet PLC shares climbed 3.8% after the budget carrier
said it logged 3.1% growth in passengers in November. Load factor,
or the percentage of seats filled with passengers, rose to 89.5%
from 89%.
TUI Travel picked up 2.8% as the vacation-package provider
posted an 11% rise in underlying operating profit on a constant
currency basis for fiscal 2014, surpassing its recently raised
forecast.
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