LONDON (Alliance News) - Having made a strong start to the week, UK equities eased slightly just after the open on Wednesday, though all three big supermarket stocks rallied after Tesco said it achieved like-for-like sales growth in the first half of its financial year.
The UK's largest grocer traded up 8.0%, making it the best performer in the FTSE 100. Like-for-like sales for Tesco in the UK grew 0.6% in the 26 weeks to August 27 from a year before, while group like-for-like sales were up 1.0%.
UK volumes rose 2.1% and transactions in the UK increased 1.6% year-on-year, Tesco said, while international volumes were up 3.3% and transactions rose 0.3%.
Tesco made a pretax profit of GBP71.0 million in the half year, down 28% from the GBP99.0 million made a year prior, as the group booked a series of costs related to its restructuring, including redundancies and head office relocation costs.
The two other big London-listed grocers were lifted as well by Tesco's positive results. Wm Morrison Supermarkets was up 1.6% and J Sainsbury was up 1.0%.
The FTSE 100 index as a whole, however, was down 0.1%, or 8.05 points, at 7,066.29. The FTSE 250 was down 0.2% at 18,315.00 and the AIM All-Share was flat at 829.00.
The BATS UK 100 index also started lower, down 0.8% at 11,971.15, the BATS 250 was down 0.9% at 16,723.52 and the BATS Small Companies was flat at 11,399.55.
The pound continued its decline against other major currencies on Wednesday, hitting a new 31 year low of USD1.2684 against the dollar.
In European stock markets, the CAC 40 index in Paris was down 1.0% and the DAX 30 in Frankfurt was down 0.9%.
In Asia, the Japanese Nikkei 225 index ended up 0.5% and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong is up 0.2%. The Shanghai market remains closed for a week-long national holiday.
Barclays Bank said a group of investors in FTSE 250 motor insurer Hastings Group Holdings are to sell a 7.0% stake in the company via a share placing.
Barclays said the group of investors selling the shares comprises Hastings Investco - controlled by Goldman Sachs Merchant Banking Division, Edward Fitzmaurice, Narmali Utley and Keith Charlton - Neil Utley, The Utley Family Charitable Trust and Richard Brewster.
The group of investors has agreed to sell a total of 46.2 million shares in Hastings at 216.00 pence per share, making the transaction worth around GBP99.8 million. Hastings shares closed at 228.50p on Tuesday. On Wednesday the stock was down 3.7% at 220.00p, making it the biggest faller in the mid-cap index.
JPMorgan Emerging Markets Investment Trust said it significantly outperformed its benchmark in the year to the end of June, boosted by currency benefits following sterling's fall in the wake of the UK's EU referendum.
The trust, which invests in emerging markets equities, said it made a total return on net assets of 12.7% in the year to the end of June, compared to a 3.5% return for its benchmark, the MSCI Emerging Markets Index. The stock was up 1.8% early Wednesday.
Topps Tiles was the worst performer in the FTSE All-Share, down 8.8%, as it said it expects to report a rise in revenue and profit for its full year ended October 1, though market conditions weakened in the fourth quarter.
"Whilst market conditions weakened over the final quarter as a result of reduced levels of consumer confidence we remain confident in our ability to outperform the market and deliver our goal of further profitable sales growth," said Chief Executive Matthew Williams.
The tile retailer said revenue for the year is anticipated to come in within the region of GBP215.0 million, compared to the GBP212.0 million reported a year earlier. Like-for-like revenue is expected to be 4.2% ahead of the prior year.
Still ahead in the economic calendar, there are a string of Markit services purchasing managers' indexes for September for Italy at 0845 BST, France at 0850 BST, Germany at 0855 BST, the eurozone at 0900 BST, the UK at 0930 BST and the US at 1445 BST.
There also will be eurozone retail sales at 1000 BST, US MBA mortgage applications at 1200 BST, US ADP employment change at 1315 BST and US trade balances at 1330 BST. Later in the afternoon, US ISM non-manufacturing PMI is at 1500 BST, at the same time as US factory orders, while the Energy Information Administration's crude oil stocks are at 1530 BST.
Michael Saunders, a member of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee, will make a speech at Institute of Directors in Manchester at 1600 BST.
By Neil Thakrar; neilthakrar@alliancenews.com; @NeilThakrar1
Copyright 2016 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
