Next Share News (NXT)

The Footsie finished flat on Tuesday, as some worrying comments on the Eurozone by ratings agency Standard & Poor's continued to weigh on sentiment.The index traded within a narrow range of just 51 points today, with investors likely to stay cautious ahead of a pivotal EU summit scheduled at the end of the week, in which leaders are expected to put in place their plans to 'save the euro'.S&P WARNS OF MASS EUROZONE DOWNGRADEReports of an impending credit rating agency action on the Eurozone were confirmed last night, as S&P announced that it had placed the rating of 15 of the area's sovereigns on CreditWatch with a negative outlook. France is the country which is facing the most severe warning, with S&P saying Europe's second largest economy could be downgraded two notches unless it improves its budgetary position. France's finance minister Francois Baroin is reported by Reuters to have already ruled out more cuts. He argues that S&P has not taken account of yesterday's agreement between Sarkozy and Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany to centralise Eurozone budget planning. Meanwhile, the ratings agency also warned that it could downgrade the AAA rating of the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF). The decision will depend on whether there is a ratings cut on one of the six triple-A countries in the region: Germany, France, Holland, Luxembourg, Finland, and Austria. "The rating cut could be of one or two notches," explains S&P. In other news, the UK housing market continued its bumpy ride as prices fell 0.9% between October and November, according to figures from the Halifax. WOLSELEY TOPS THE RISERS, RETAILERS FALLWolseley, a distributor of plumbing and heating products, hit the top spot after reporting that it has seen like-for-like revenue growth of 5% in the three months to the end of October, compared to the same period of 2010. Retailers were sold off across the board after some gloomy comments from the British Retail Consortium (BRC). Consumers are keeping "a tight rein on their spending, despite Christmas being so near," the BRC said today. Total sales were up 0.7%, against a 2.8% increase in November 2010, the retailers' lobby group said. Next and Marks & Spencer were falling lower on the Footsie while Home Retail, Dunelm and KESA Electricals secured the bottom three spots on the FTSE 250. Aerospace and defence engineering firm Meggitt was the worst performer of the day after Credit Suisse downgraded the stock to underperform from outperform and cut its target to 330p from 410p. Car insurer Admiral wasn't far behind after the Society of Motor Manufacturers revealed that private sales fell 16% in November. New car registrations also fell, down 4.2% year-on-year.Shire was being helped higher as Goldman Sachs reiterated its buy recommendation on the pharmaceuticals giant. Sector peer GlaxoSmithKline was also in demand. A less-than-favourable description of mining giant Vedanta in today's Financial Times may offer a useful explanation as to why it was one of the morning's biggest fallers. The FT described the stock as "a ragbag of assets, funded by a lot of debt and not a lot of their own equity," in its explanation of why the firm has continued its "dogged pursuit" of oil firm Cairn India. After initially falling into the red, Xstrata finished in the blue after it reported "significant increases" to its total mineral resources at the Las Bambas and Corroccohuayco projects in southern Peru and at El Pachón in Argentina. The utilities sector, typically liked for its defensive qualities, was out of favour with SSE, Centrica, International Power and United Utilities among the heaviest fallers.In its assessment over the European telecoms industry, Credit Suisse reiterated its outperform rating on sector heavyweights BT and Vodafone, both of which were performing well on the FTSE 100 this afternoon. BCFTSE 100 - RisersWolseley (WOS) 1,972.00p +3.63%Sage Group (SGE) 293.90p +2.26%Weir Group (WEIR) 2,078.00p +2.11%Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,228.00p +2.08%GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,427.50p +2.00%Shire Plc (SHP) 2,152.00p +1.89%BT Group (BT.A) 192.10p +1.86%Xstrata (XTA) 1,048.00p +1.50%Aggreko (AGK) 1,898.00p +1.33%Imperial Tobacco Group (IMT) 2,334.00p +1.30%FTSE 100 - FallersMeggitt (MGGT) 366.40p -4.46%Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 314.90p -4.29%Admiral Group (ADM) 890.50p -3.99%Glencore International (GLEN) 410.15p -3.48%Next (NXT) 2,575.00p -3.20%IMI (IMI) 775.00p -2.45%Lonmin (LMI) 1,050.00p -2.42%International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (IAG) 154.30p -2.28%Vedanta Resources (VED) 1,086.00p -2.25%United Utilities Group (UU.) 602.00p -2.19%FTSE 250 - RisersElectra Private Equity (ELTA) 1,478.00p +3.72%Premier Foods (PFD) 5.76p +2.95%Domino Printing Sciences (DNO) 522.50p +2.75%Perform Group (PER) 216.70p +2.70%Dignity (DTY) 838.00p +2.38%Kenmare Resources (KMR) 37.17p +2.34%Talvivaara Mining Company (TALV) 247.40p +2.10%Stagecoach Group (SGC) 248.60p +1.97%Capital & Counties Properties (CAPC) 176.30p +1.97%Filtrona PLC (FLTR) 391.80p +1.90%FTSE 250 - FallersHome Retail Group (HOME) 92.25p -8.57%Kesa Electricals (KESA) 81.70p -6.09%Dunelm Group (DNLM) 429.40p -5.48%Afren (AFR) 86.50p -5.26%Elementis (ELM) 140.30p -4.56%Hays (HAS) 67.75p -4.10%Victrex (VCT) 1,148.00p -3.69%International Personal Finance (IPF) 222.00p -3.48%Aquarius Platinum Ltd. (AQP) 180.70p -3.37%Heritage Oil (HOIL) 188.10p -3.34%