Next Share News (NXT)

Randgold Resources made strong gains this afternoon, helped by a jump in the price of gold of more than two per cent. Rob Cohen, the Lead Portfolio Manager with Dynamic Funds, was also quoted as saying the company was a "good position to do acquisitions" and has a "really good balance sheet". Having been firmly in the red this morning miners were looking more mixed this afternoon, with Vedanta reversing earlier losses to rise strongly while Anglo American was still very much lower, as traders continue to digest the weak manufacturing PMIs out from the UK and China.Retailers were also performing well today, recovering after a Debenhams-inspired sell-off on Tuesday following its profit warning. Next was a big riser, helped along by reports from department stores John Lewis and House of Fraser that they had experienced strong sales in the lead-up to Christmas.Analysts at Numis Securities said that this showed that Debenhams' problems were more "company-specific" rather than indicative of trends across the wider industry.FTSE 100 - RisersRandgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 3,899.00p +2.88%Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 1,391.00p +2.73%Ashtead Group (AHT) 778.00p +2.37%Associated British Foods (ABF) 2,488.00p +1.76%Next (NXT) 5,535.00p +1.56%Meggitt (MGGT) 535.50p +1.52%Persimmon (PSN) 1,255.00p +1.29%Fresnillo (FRES) 754.00p +1.14%International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 405.60p +1.05%Babcock International Group (BAB) 1,367.00p +0.89%FTSE 100 - FallersAberdeen Asset Management (ADN) 489.80p -2.04%SSE (SSE) 1,343.00p -1.97%Unilever (ULVR) 2,436.00p -1.85%Anglo American (AAL) 1,296.00p -1.82%Sage Group (SGE) 396.80p -1.71%Rexam (REX) 521.50p -1.70%Tesco (TSCO) 328.85p -1.65%Aviva (AV.) 442.70p -1.56%Melrose Industries (MRO) 301.00p -1.54%TUI Travel (TT.) 406.90p -1.50%NR