Boots leaves FTSE in poor health
News of a fresh sales fall at chemist Boots left the FTSE 100 Index in poor health today.
Shares in Boots fell 3% or 17.5p to 611.5p after it emerged that the retailer was no longer backing itself to hit its target of at least flat sales growth this year.
After breaching the 5500 barrier in the first hour of trading on the back of gains by oil stocks and telecoms firm O2, the Footsie slipped 9.3 points to 5485.5 by mid-morning.
Its lethargy was in contrast to the upbeat mood elsewhere on major markets, with the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong and Japan’s Nikkei Index both posting triple-digit gains.
Shares in O2 were up 2% or 2.25p to 159.25p to a new high as investors continued to buy into speculation that the mobile phone operator is ripe for a takeover.
BP and Royal Dutch Shell were ahead 4p and 1p to 683p and 1947p respectively after a report showed stocks of crude oil in the United States shrank last week, adding to jitters caused by hurricane damage in the Gulf of Mexico.
The revelation that Boots saw like-for-like sales decline by 1.6% in the second quarter was hitting sentiment in the retail sector where Next faded 19p to 1417p and Dixons owner DSG International declined 2.25p to 150.75p.
Miners who enjoyed big gains yesterday on the back of record copper prices were not doing as well in the current session as investors banked profits. Antofagasta lost 31p to 1549p and Anglo American fell 19p to 1685p.
But there was a disappointing debut for 888.com, with shares in the online gambling stock falling in conditional dealings to 171.5p after floating at 175p.
PartyGaming, its Footsie counterpart in the poker sector, was in similar straits – off 1.25p at 94.25p.
