FTSE continues to march higher as retailers recover

The FTSE 100 index carried on its recovery by adding another 0.4 per cent by the close of trade on Thursday, reaching 5340. The climb was prompted by strong results from the oil sector as well as the retailers staging a resurgence.

Chris Bradshaw
shareprices.com - Thursday, September 08, 2011

Printable version email to a friend Subscribe to shareprices.com newsfeed
BP

The oil firms individually added some of the biggest gains to the blue chip index with BP climbing by 0.5 per cent, BG Group higher by 1.8 per cent and Royal Dutch Shell increasing by 0.6 per cent. The sector rose by 1.27 per cent overall.

However, posting a much stronger performance than in recent days was the retailers, with food and drug retailers up by 1.72 per cent and general retailers higher by 1.35 per cent overall.

The rise in the fortunes of the sector was prompted primarily by good results from two heavyweights in the industry, Morrisons and Home Retail Group. Supermarket chain Morrisons beat all expectations with like for like sales increasing by 2.2 per cent and profits up to £449 million from £412 million in the first half of the year sending its share price higher by 4.22 per cent.

Home Retail Group helped to push the general retailers upwards as it climbed by 1.99 per cent despite reporting decreases in its sales revenue at both Argos and Homebase. However, the decline was far less marked than expected and led to the midcap stock being upgraded by Seymour Pierce to 'hold' from 'sell'.

One of the standout performers for the retailers was Laura Ashley, soaring by 12.16 per cent as it reported its pre-tax profits had risen to £7.3 million for the first half year of 2011, up from £5.7 million.

 

Latest News

Related News

FTSE 100 Latest

ValueChange
5,403.2898.80  % rise