Trading slow in London
Trading on the London market was lacklustre today despite the battle for Safeway hotting up with the emergence of a fifth potential bidder.
Shares in the group surged to fresh eight-month highs after billionaire Philip Green, who owns Bhs and Arcadia, said he was considering a cash offer for the business. By lunchtime the stock was up 8.25p to 313.25p, a 3% rise.
The jump, however, came in a subdued start to the week for the wider FTSE 100 Index, which lost early gains to stand up just 9.4 points at 3830 by lunchtime.
A tumble on Wall Street on Friday, on increased concern about war with Iraq and sluggish outlooks from both Microsoft and IBM, weighed on the mood.
In addition, trading lacked direction today as US markets are closed for Martin Luther King Day.
Among retailers in London helping the market move ahead were rival bidders for Safeway – Sainsbury’s, up 0.25p to 247.25p, and Morrisons, up 4.25p to 186.5p.
Other high street stores groups also gained as the market looked ahead to official retail sales figures later this week.
B&Q-to-Comet group Kingfisher rose 5p to 204p, Boots was up 5.5p at 546.5p and Next rose 19p to 749p.
Telecoms also helped keep the Footsie in positive territory as the market sought to shake off last week’s lethargy.
Mobile phone operators recovered some of the ground lost on Friday on concerns about Oftel’s review of termination charges.
The former BT business mmO2 rose 0.5p to 48.5p while Vodafone climbed 0.75p to 119.75p.
But offsetting some of the gains were oil groups BP and Shell. Shell slid 3.25p to 390.75p on a broker downgrade, while rival BP fell 0.25p to 403.25p.
Banks weighed on the Footsie as the sector lost early gains. Barclays was off 8.5p at 351.25p, Abbey National fell 4p to 474p and Alliance & Leicester was 21p lower at 729p.
Chocolate and fizzy drinks group Cadbury Schweppes was another faller, off 4.5p at 362p, after a downgrade from JP Morgan.
Among smaller stocks, furniture retailer MFI built up a 4% shares rise, up 3.75p to 102p, after reporting strong January trading.
But late-night bars group Luminar tumbled 13%, off 44.5p to 298p, after reporting disappointing sales figures over the Christmas period.
The company behind the chains Chicago Rock Cafe and Jumpin Jaks said a consumer spending downturn had affected the festive showing of its weaker sites.
