rline hit by fuel prices

CATHAY Pacific, Hong Kong's largest airline, dropped the most in more than four months on the city's stock market after fuel prices surged and UBS downgraded the carrier to "sell."

The airline fell 5 percent to HK$15.44 (US$1.97) at the close. Cathay Pacific and other Asian carriers have plunged in 2008 as they struggle to cope with jet-fuel prices through surcharges, hedging and cuts. The price of fuel, most Asian carriers' biggest expense, rose 6.5 percent in Singapore to US$172.75 a barrel, Bloomberg News said.