Air Mauritius drops most in 5 months as oil rises on Libya

Air Mauritius Ltd. fell the most in more than five months as oil rose to a more than two-year high after Libya’s uprising threatened to disrupt exports and spread to other nations in the Middle East.

The stock of sub-Saharan Africa’s fourth-largest airline retreated the most since Sept. 9, losing 0.8 rupee, or 3.9 percent, to 19.7 by the 1:30 p.m. close in Port Louis.

Crude for April delivery rose as much as 0.9 percent to $96.25 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange after Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi vowed to fight a growing rebellion until his “last drop of blood.” Libya is Africa’s third-largest supplier of crude.

“The soaring petrol price is non-negligible on Air Mauritius’s finances,” Kishen Nadassen, senior research analyst at CIM Stockbrokers Ltd., said in a phone interview from Port Louis. “We could expect the company to adjust upwards its fuel surcharges in order to compensate for the increase in the costs.”

The company’s fuel expenses increased by 24.5 million euros ($34 million) in the nine months through December, it said in a statement on Feb. 10.