Image via Shutterstock
Airline and travel company share prices rose yesterday as the price of oil slumped after the Opec oil producers’ cartel decided not to cut output.
Easyjet soared 5.70% to 1,633p, British Airways owner IAG jumped 4.81% to 457.80p, Tui Travel climbed 3.78% to 433.30p and Carnival Corporation 2.2% to 2,697p.
Thomas Cook regained some of the losses caused by the unexpected departure of former boss Harriet Green on Wednesday.
Opec secretary general, Abdallah Salem el-Badri, said it would not try to shore up prices by reducing production.
“There’s a price decline. That does not mean that we should really rush and do something,” he said.
Brent crude hit its lowest since August 2010, falling below $72 a barrel, before settling at $72.82, 5% drop on the day.
The 12 Opec members decided to maintain production at 30 million barrels per day as first agreed in December 2011.
“We don’t want to panic. I mean it,” el-Badri was quoted by the BBC as saying. “We want to see the market, how the market behaves, because the decline of the price does not reflect a fundamental change.”
Crude oil prices have fallen 30% since June on sluggish global demand and rising production from the US.