FTSE recovers but Tesco’s woes drag down rival retailers – London Report
BRITAIN’S top equity index recovered yesterday and ended slightly higher, tracking a broad rally in US stocks following some strong earnings results, although a slump in Tesco and Unilever capped gains.
The FTSE 100 index ended up 0.3 per cent at 6.419.15 points, after falling as much as 1.4 per cent during the day.
Troubled Tesco was the worst-performing FTSE 100 stock, down 6.6 per cent to 171p, after reporting a massive 92 per cent fall in profits.
Its rivals also fell back on concerns about their progress against the discounters Lidl and Aldi. Sainsbury slid 1.82 per cent to 237.20p and Morrison lost 3.04 per cent to 153.10p.
Unilever also disappointed the market with its figures, falling 3.71 per cent to 2,440p while Tullow Oil lost 4.17 per cent to 505.50p after a disappointing update from Kenya drilling.
Fitbug jumped another 58 per cent to 2.575p following Wednesday’s news of a deal to sell its fitness devices in Sainsbury and US retailer Target. That’s a leap of 591 per cent since Tuesday.