BA owner leads top-flight after boost on US borders

BRITISH Airways owner IAG continued its recovery charge today as investors brushed off Monday’s torrid session to send the wider FTSE 100 index up by more than 1%.

The worries over contagion from a potential collapse of debt-laden Chinese property developer Evergrande were put to one side as miners and London’s big Asia-focused stocks all attracted heavy buying.

The FTSE 100 index was up 66.71 points at 6,970.98 after drawing encouragement from a recovery on Wall Street in the closing minutes of last night’s session.

There’s every chance the volatility could return, however, with Evergrande’s next debt repayment due on Thursday and US Federal Reserve policymakers meeting this week to discuss when to taper economic stimulus.

Today’s rebuilding job in the mining sector saw BHP and Antofagasta rally by 3%, although analysts at Liberum said downside risks remain after iron ore prices halved in eight weeks. The broker has sell recommendations on Rio Tinto and fellow heavyweight BHP.

Prudential also staged a fightback, up 33p to 1,357p to recoup some of the 8% lost yesterday on plans to raise over £2 billion from Hong Kong investors.

IAG topped the risers board, however, as investors continue to flood back on relief that US borders will soon reopen to fully vaccinated travellers from UK and Europe. Shares were up by another 5% or 7.6p to 173.78p, on top of last night’s 11% surge. The shares are still only back to where they were in early August, having been 215p in April.

Royal Dutch Shell added to the London market’s momentum after last night’s agreement to sell its assets in the Permian basin to ConocoPhilips for $9.5 billion. The exit from America’s largest oil field is part of Shell’s clean energy transition and will help fund shareholder distributions, sending B shares up 4% or 53.2p to 1,483.8p.