LONDON: The FTSE 100 dropped on Monday as rising coronavirus cases across Europe stoked worries about its near-term economic impact, while Signature Aviation jumped on reaching an agreement for a takeover deal with Global Infrastructure Partners.

The blue-chip FTSE 100 index fell 0.5%, after gaining for five consecutive sessions, with auto and healthcare stocks leading the declines.

Britain’s chief medical adviser Chris Witty warned that the next few weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic will be the worst as the new, highly-infectious variants of the virus rampage across the country.

The export-heavy FTSE 100 has gained 38% from its March 2020 lows and hovers at levels seen in late-February last year when the coronavirus crisis began to ravage risk assets globally, helped by record government spending and optimism around vaccine rollouts.

The mid-cap index was up 0.1% on Monday.

British airline easyJet reversed early gains and fell 0.9% after it boosted its liquidity through a new five-year loan facility of $1.87 billion, backed by a partial guarantee from Britain.

Signature Aviation jumped 7.7% after Global Infrastructure Partners, the former owner of London’s Gatwick Airport, reached an agreement to buy the company for about $4.63 billion, trumping an approach from Blackstone Group.