27th Aug 2014 16:16
LONDON (Alliance News) - The FTSE 100 ended slightly higher Wednesday as stocks in Europe and the US consolidated after Tuesday's gains, with Wm Morrison Supermarkets ending among the top performers amid signs it may be managing to stem its recent sales decline.
Morrisons outperformed after Kantar Wordpanel data for the 12 weeks to August 17 showed that its market share was 11.0%, down from 11.3% a year earlier, but flat compared with the previous 12 week period. Its sales fell 1.9% on the year, the data showed, but this was an improvement from the 3.8% drop that Kantar had reported in July. Morrisons ended the day as one of the biggest risers in the blue-chip index gaining 1.4%.
J Sainsbury, Morrisons and Tesco all continued to feel the squeeze from heavy discounters and upmarket grocers. Sainsbury, recently the better performing of the four, suffered a small drop in market share to 16.4%, from 16.5%, and its sales growth of 0.3% also lagged behind the market. The company ended as the biggest loser on the FTSE 100 with its shares down 2.6%.
Tesco's market share declined to 28.8%, from 30.2% a year before, while sales also continue to decline, down 4.0% year-on-year. The company's shares fell 1.1%.
In the FTSE 250, Foxtons fell 10%, the biggest faller on the index. The estate agent warned that after strong first-half growth, the second-half will be slower because house buyers are increasingly expecting an interest rate hike and the Bank of England took steps to to cool the steep rise in house prices by introducing more stringent mortgage rules.
The FTSE 100 closed up 0.1% at 6,830.66, while the FTSE 250 ended up 0.2% at 16,024.64 and the AIM All-Share outperformed, ending up 1.1% up at 778.78.
The major European markets ended mixed, with the CAC 40 closing flat, and the DAX ending down 0.2% after the GfK consumer confidence survey came in at 8.6 for September, missing the consensus and last month's figure of 9.0. German economic confidence has been undermined of late by the conflict in eastern Ukraine, due to Germany's strong trade relations with Russia.
At the close of European markets, the DJIA was up 0.1%, while the S&P 500 and the NASDAQ Composite were flat.
In the economic calendar Thursday, Germany's official unemployment rate will be released at 0855 BST and the Consumer Price Index for Germany will be released at 1300 BST. This will be followed by GDP data from the US at 1330 BST.
In the corporate calendar there will be a host of companies releasing interim results, including FTSE 250-listed IP Group, Hays and Hunting.
By Neil Thakrar; [email protected]
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Related Shares:
HuntingTescoIp GroupHaysFoxtonsMRW.LSainsbury's