London Markets: British stocks advance, as BP, IAG climb

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Reuters

A British Airways Boeing 747 passenger aircraft prepares to take off. BA’s owner reported a rise in passenger traffic.

U.K. stocks lumbered higher on Monday, catching up to the stellar gains made on Wall Street in the previous session.

The FTSE 100 UKX, +0.30%  gained 0.35% to 7180.30 as market heavyweights including BP BP, +0.66%  , Vodafone Group VOD, +1.98%   and Royal Dutch Shell RDSA, +0.56%   moved higher.

The Dow industrials surged on Friday after solid jobs data, though it coughed back part of those gains on Monday on concerns over U.S.-China trade talks.

British Airways owner International Consolidated Airlines Group IAG, +2.42%  rose 3% as the company said September passenger traffic was up 0.6% on the year, and that its load factor rose 0.7 percentage points.

Outside the FTSE 100, construction firm SIG SHI, -15.98%  tumbled 16% as the building materials company said a downturn in U.K. and German economies means its fiscal year underlying profitability will be “significantly worse” than previous expectations. SIG also announced plans to sell its air handling and building solutions divisions.

“While the challenging market backdrop does not come as a total surprise, the extent of the deterioration does and the impact that it will have on our forecasts,” said Robert Eason, an analyst at Goodbody Stockbrokers. SIG did say the disposals will “transform” the balance sheet.