London markets up slightly after holiday

After Monday’s holiday, London markets resumed trade on Tuesday with slightly higher volumes of 2.2 billion shares traded and small gains in both the FTSE 100 and FTSE 250. The 100 added 0.17 percent to 5,888.3 after going as high as 5,921.3 earlier in the session, while the 250 was 0.4 percent higher to 9,531.8

Airlines and cruise ship operators benefited from declining oil prices, which dropped below $70 dollars per gallon. Cruise ship operator Carnival added 2.6 percent to £21.74. Among airlines, British Airways was up 4 percent to 414¼p and EasyJet gained 4.5 percent to 454½p.

Brewers were up on the day as well. Diageo added 0.1 percent to 945p ahead of its full-year report, due on Thursday. SABMiller gained 0.6 percent to £10.13. Both were said to be interested in bidding for Australian drinks company Foster’s.

Another of the day’s gainers was plumber and buildings materials group Wolseley, which added 2.2 percent to £10.89 ahead of an interim report due next month. The gains came after Wolseley lost a quarter of its value recently.

Among losers on the day was MFI Furniture Group, which dropped 4.2 percent to 85p on reports that the sale of its losing retail business in the UK ahs run into problems. Also lower was coal-fueled power station operator Drax, down 1.8 percent to 902p.

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