FTSE claws back lost ground
The FTSE 100 Index clawed back some lost ground today despite retail stocks wobbling ahead of key trading updates due later this week.
The Footsie was up 18 points by mid-morning to 6366.5, reversing some of the 130 points decline seen on Friday after poor jobs data in the United States caused markets worldwide to plummet.
Big retailers peppered the fallers board as investors braced themselves for a flurry of bad trading news this week.
Sainsbury’s dived 5% – down 20.5p to 385p – after a report in the Times newspaper said the company would miss its internal sales targets for Christmas.
Marks & Spencer was 13p worse off at 505p as traders braced themselves for the first dip in like-for-like sales growth in nine quarters. Tesco was dragged lower by the weak sentiment surrounding Sainsbury’s, leaving the retail giant 3% or 11p lower at 445p.
Elsewhere on the high street, B&Q firm Kingfisher dipped 4.4p to 125.5p.
Argos owner Home Retail Group rallied slightly after a morning fall to nudge up 2.75p overall to 291.75p.
There was also a hangover from last week’s bad retail news, with fashion retailer Next maintaining a downward slide, losing 32p to 1427p. The group warned investors its UK stores probably would not return to like-for-like sales growth this year.
Among the gainers in the top flight was Scottish and Southern Energy after announcing on Friday night its purchase of Airtricity, the Ireland-based renewable energy firm.
The 1.8 billion euros deal (£1.3bn) includes a 308 MW portfolio of onshore wind farms in Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, and left SSE up more than 2% or 37p to 1672p.
Outside the top flight, Capital Radio owner GCap Media jumped 49% after it said it had turned down a 190p a share approach from the owner of Heart FM. GCap shares were 59p higher at 180p.
