FTSE 100 close: Ocado delivers bumper gains while Next zips lower
London’s FTSE 100 was hoisted higher by the UK’s largest retailers surging today, except high street bellwether Next, which stumbled badly.
The capital’s premier index bumped more than one per cent to 7,564.28 points, while the domestically-focused mid-cap FTSE 250 index, which is more aligned with the health of the UK economy, surged 1.28 per cent to 18,632.81 points.
British fashion giant Next anchored the premier index today, collapsing nearly five per cent, despite posting a 5.7 per cent rise in pre-tax profits to just over £870m for the year to January.
The firm also told investors it will hike prices by less than previously projected, mainly due to lower shipping costs alleviating margin pressure.
“Apparently, this little morsel wasn’t enough to satisfy investors, despite the likelihood it might provide better margins over the reporting period. I guess there’s just no pleasing some people,” Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK, said.
Downbeat market sentiment toward Next didn’t spread to the rest of the retail sector, with fashion and food firms leading the FTSE 100 upwards.
Middle class favourite and online supermarket Ocado climbed to the top of the index, advancing about eight per cent, while Britain’s largest food retailer, Tesco, gained around three per cent.
Banks supported the premier index’s early gains in another sign traders have parked concerns about the global financial system’s capacity to withstand aggressive interest rate hikes by central banks.
Barclays was up more than three per cent, while Britain’s largest bank HSBC bumped up over two per cent.
The pound weakened around a tenth of a percentage point against the US dollar, while the yield on the UK benchmark gilt nudged upwards.
Oil prices jumped around one per cent.