Sector movers: Travel stocks move up

31st Jul 2009 13:27

Rank is leading the travel and leisure sector higher. The casino and bingo hall operator said underlying pre-tax profits rose to £24.7m in the six months ended 30 June compared with £17.6m last time. Analysts expected a profit of around £20m. Revenue came to £266m from £257m previously.Net debt reduced to £208.1m from £226.5m at 31 December 2008.BA is also higher. The airline said it is further cutting capacity, parking a total of 22 aircraft during winter 2010, after it swung to a loss in the first quarter.Elsewhere in travel, travel group Travelzest is flat after saying it moved into profit in the six months to April 30 after strong growth in Canada helped offset weakness in the UK.Among other leisure stocks, night club operator Luminar rises after saying it will raise £37.5m through a placing and open offer at 95p, a near third discount to yesterday's closing price.Drug giant AstraZeneca is lower the day after it upped its forecasts for the full-year, helping drag the whole pharmaceuticals sector into the red.Top performing sectors so far todayForestry & Paper 2,878.65 +3.29%Travel & Leisure 3,412.83 +2.51%Personal Goods 8,442.79 +2.49%Real Estate 1,751.68 +2.39%Banks 4,479.23 +1.94%Bottom performing sectors so far todayOil Equipment Services & Distribution 12,791.99 -1.37%Oil & Gas Producers 6,980.05 -1.27%Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology 8,045.76 -0.94%Food & Drug Retailers 4,310.87 -0.84%Insurance (non-life) 1,225.48 -0.75%