Retailers were back in fashion after figures showed a resurgence in High Street sales. According to the Office for National Statistics, UK retail sales climbed 1.7 per cent in January, after a downwardly revised 0.6 per cent drop in December. Analysts had expected a 0.2 per cent increase.
Renewed growth at food stores, where sales jumped by 5.6 per cent, offset declines for household, clothing and textile goods, alongside automotive fuel. A further boost came from a slight rise in GfK's UK consumer confidence index, which edged up to minus-20 in February from minus-22 in January.
Panmure Liberum analyst Simon French called the retail sales and consumer confidence data encouraging, especially given fears of a softer quarter. Supermarket giant Sainsbury's gained 1.6 per cent, or 4p, to 252.6p, Primark owner Associated British Foods added 1.5 per cent, or 28.5p, to 1911p, and JD Sports gained 0.1 per cent, or 0.08p, to 81.44p.
Boost: Renewed growth at food stores, where sales jumped by 5.6 per cent, offset declines for household, clothing and textile goods, alongside automotive fuel. The market mood was mixed, with the FTSE 100 closing 0.04 per cent, or 3.6 points, lower at 8659.37, having lost 0.8 per cent over the five sessions this week. However, the FTSE 250 inched up 1.12 points, to 20613.89, but still shed 0.2 per cent over the week.
Elsewhere among the blue chips, British Gas owner Centrica gained 1.1 per cent, or 1.55p, to 145.1p as analysts at Citi reiterated a 'buy' rating on the back of recent stellar results. But BAE Systems shed 2.2 per cent, or 28.5p, to 1255.5p after being downgraded to 'hold' by analysts at Panmure Liberum, as concerns mount over looming cuts to the US defence budget.
Ferrexpo rallied 11.4 per cent, or 7.9p, higher to 77p, having tumbled on Thursday after reports said Ukrainian officials planned to nationalise the company's Poltava mining and processing plant. But Conduit shed 0.7 per cent, or 2.5p, to 383.5p after analysts at RBC Capital Markets downgraded their rating for the reinsurer to 'sector perform' from 'outperform' after a recent update.
Among the small caps, Europa Metals leapt 29.2 per cent, or 0.35p, to 1.55p, after falling around 19pc since trading in its shares resumed last week. It insisted that there was no reason for the drop and argued that its shares are well below their implied value. And Proteome Sciences gained 0.5 per cent, or 0.02p, to 4.51p after the protein-focused drug development services provider won a US deal for spectrometry services.
But Zenova Group dropped 35.3 per cent, or 0.15p, to 0.28p after the fire protection firm raised £250,000 from a placing of 100m new shares at 0.25p each to ensure sufficient working capital. UK Oil & Gas fell 31.4 per cent, or 0.01p, to 0.01p as it raised £400,431 via a discounted private placing to develop its hydrogen storage project in Dorset in a bid to win a place in the Government's hydrogen storage business model procurement round this year.
And healthcare services firm Totally was down by 19.8 per cent, or 0.9p, to 3.65p on news that its chief executive officer Wendy Lawrence had left the company with immediate effect. Affiliate links: If you take out a product This is Money may earn a commission. These deals are chosen by our editorial team, as we think they are worth highlighting. This does not affect our editorial independence.
