Drop in airlines dampens FTSE 100 after Spanish attack

LONDON - 18 August 2017: Britain's top share index came under pressure from falls among financials and airline stocks, caught up in a broader risk-off move following the attack in Spain.

The FTSE 100 index was down 1 percent at 7,320.66 points by 0908 GMT, extending the previous session's losses after three days of gains. It was still set to end the week with a small gain, however.

A suspected Islamist militant drove a van into crowds in Barcelona on Thursday, killing 13 people and injuring more than 100.

Shares in International Consolidated Airlines, which operates British Airways, and easyJet were the biggest fallers among the blue chips, both down more than 2 percent as the broader European travel & leisure sector dropped 1.4 percent.

"The entire airline and leisure industry is down today purely from the attacks," said John Moore, trader at Berkeley Capital.

"People in the forthcoming months, we believe, will be less likely to take trips abroad," he said, adding that he expected the airline stocks to recover.

Randgold Resources led the handful of risers, up 1.7 percent as investors sought safety in assets such as precious metals miners and the price of gold rose for the third day straight by political turmoil in the United States.

Falls among financials also added pressure to the index, taking nearly 15 points off the FTSE 100, with HSBC< Barclays and Lloyds among the biggest weights.

British mid caps were also 0.8 percent lower, led by a fall in Hikma's shares which extended losses into a second day after trimming its sales forecasts on Thursday.

The health care firm has fallen more than 14 percent over the past two sessions, and broker HSBC cut its target price on the stock.

"Management also repeatedly stated that pricing is cyclical, the industry has been here before and that it will recover. We disagree," analysts at HSBC said in a note, adding that they expect U.S. drug pricing to remain under increasing pressure through the second half of 2017 and onwards.