Earnings prospects for travel giant TUI lifted it to the top of the blue-chip risers' board today as the wider FTSE 100 Index fell for the second session in a row.
The Thomson and First Choice owner rose almost 3% after it said in a trading update that it was confident of delivering underlying profit growth of 10% to15% for the year to November.
The FTSE 100 Index fell 28.7 points to 6991, following a recent six-day winning streak that had seen it surpass the 7,000 landmark, but was brought to an end with a negative session on Tuesday.
New fears over the eurozone crisis sent the index lower again today. Debt-laden Greece is under pressure to present reform plans needed to unlock rescue funds.
France's Cac 40 and Germany's Dax were both sharply lower. New York's Dow Jones Industrial Average was also in the red after orders for manufactured goods in the US fell in February for the third time in four months.
Meanwhile there was some relief for the pound, which has come under pressure after figures showing inflation fell to zero last month.
Remarks by Bank of England deputy governor Minouche Shafik maintaining that the next move on rates was still expected to be a hike helped the currency rise against the dollar to just below 1.49. It was flat against the euro at a little under 1.36.
TUI's stand-out performance among stocks in London came after an update in which it said winter 2014-15 closed as expected, with higher average selling prices in most markets, up 1% overall.
Summer 2015 bookings are up 1% and average selling prices are 1% higher.
It comes after the completion of a merger in December between UK-based TUI Travel and Germany's TUI AG to create the world's largest tour operator. Shares rose 31p to 1214p.
Meanwhile, shares in FTSE 250 construction firm Balfour Beatty rose almost 6% despite its slump to a £304 million pre-tax loss and cancellation of its final dividend, as new boss Leo Quinn warned of "major short-term challenges".
Balfour also announced a fresh £118 million write-down on its UK construction business to add to the £70 million hit disclosed in January.
Roger Johnston, analyst at Edison Investment Research, said: "While the turnaround in performance will not be easy to achieve, we believe that Quinn's track record and no-nonsense approach will drag the business with him." Shares rose 12.8p to 244p.
In other corporate news, the AA said annual pre-tax profits fell 68% to £60.8 million in the year to the end of January as finance costs rose.
But it also announced a £935 million financing, including a £200 million share placement, that it said would save it £45 million a year. Shares fell 1.9p to 425.2p.
The biggest risers in the FTSE 100 Index were TUI up 31p at 1214p, BG Group up 14.9p at 895.7p, Rio Tinto up 42p at 2926p and Centrica up 3.6p at 260.2p.
The biggest fallers in the FTSE 100 Index were ARM Holdings down 73p at 1127p, Sage down 13.2p at 468.5p, Barclays down 6.55p at 251.9p and Intercontinental Hotels Group down 61p at 2595p.
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