BA fails to ground FTSE

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The FTSE 100 has ended the day up 24.5 points, or 0.39%, to 6,263.5, as gains from merger & acquisition activity were offset by strike news at British Airways.

Smiths Group posted the biggest gains with a rise of 11.12% to £10.95, after it announced it has sold its aerospace arm to General Electric, while Johnson Matthey climbed 2.62% to £14.88. Royal & Sun Alliance also performed well with a rise of 2.54% to 161.75p, closely followed by Cairn Energy which added 2.35% to £17.02, while Rolls-Royce Group climbed 2.15% to 486.25p. Reed Elsevier was the biggest drag on the index with a fall of 1.66% to 593.5p, closely followed by British Airways which slipped 1.54% to 542.5p, on news cabin crews have voted in favour of a strike action over chang...

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