LONDON, March 26 — Britain’s top share index fell sharply today, led by travel stocks after air strikes in Yemen sent oil prices surging.

Britain’s FTSE 100 was down 1.3 per cent at 6,899.90 points by 1211 GMT, bringing the drop since a record high hit on Tuesday to 2.4 per cent.

Airlines saw substantial selling as Brent crude shot up nearly 6 per cent after Saudi Arabia and its Gulf Arab allies began a military operation in Yemen.

Travel and leisure firms, many of which have oil as a substantial input cost, were down 2.6 per cent, having rallied by a third since lows hit in October 2014.

Airline IAG fell more than 4 per cent, with cruise operator Carnival down 2.2 per cent.

Budget airline easyJet dropped 4.4 per cent despite upgrading first-half forecasts.

Oil firm BP was up 0.4 per cent.

“Given the FTSE is heavily exposed to commodities, we see the weakness being relatively protected by the drops we are seeing in Europe,” Atif Latif, director of trading at Guardian Stockbrokers, said.

London Stock Exchange group was the biggest FTSE 100 faller in per centage terms, down 8.7 per cent at 2,320 pence after Borse Dubai sold its 17.4 per cent stake.

A familiar with the matter said the sale went through at 2,250 pence per share.

Chip maker ARM extended the previous session’s fall in substantial volumes as investors grew nervous about its high valuation at a time of slowing smartphone sales growth in markets including China.

The stock was down 4.6 per cent at 1,075 pence.

“I’ve still got my ‘shorts’ in place on ARM. I’m waiting to see if it can go down further to test the 10 pound level,” said Beaufort Securities sales trader Basil Petrides. — Reuters