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(Alliance News) - Stock prices in London kicked off Tuesday in positive territory, shrugging off the announcement late Monday by UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson that England will enter a nationwide lockdown for the third time.

The FTSE 100 index was up 32.86 points, or 0.5%, at 6,604.74 early Tuesday.

The mid-cap FTSE 250 index was up 41.72 points, or 0.2%, at 20,579.61. The AIM All-Share index was down 0.2% to 1,158.72.

The Cboe UK 100 index was up 0.3% at 657.01. The Cboe 250 was up 0.5% at 17,935.97, and the Cboe Small Companies was up 0.1% 11,700.71.

In Paris, the CAC 40 was up 0.1%, while Frankfurt's DAX 30 was marginally lower.

Among London stocks, WM Morrison said its like-for-like sales surged over the festive period, helped by a "renewed focus on traditional Christmas fare" and despite the UK being under Covid-19 restrictions.

Retailer Next also painted a somewhat optimistic picture, explaining that full price sales over the holiday trading stretch fell by less than initially anticipated.

However, Next did warn that profit it made in November and December "has been almost entirely offset by" lockdowns and additional costs it has incurred clearing retail stock.

Shares in Next were 8.3% higher.

"After accounting for the benefit of better sales in November and December and anticipated losses from store closures in January, full year profit before tax is forecast to be GBP370 million before two additional non-recurring items," Next said.

"For the year ahead (2021/22) our central guidance, which assumes our retail stores will be closed in February and March, is for profit before tax of GBP670 million, based on full price sales being flat versus two years ago."

Next said it upside scenario for the 2022 financial year is pretax profit of GBP735 million, with its downside forecasting profit of GBP600 million.

Promisingly for Next, full price sales in the nine weeks to December 26 were down just 1.1% from the prior year, measuring up favourably to the retailer's central guidance of an 8% decline.

Ocado climbed 0.7% on the back of a hefty sales rise in the 12 weeks to December 27, as shown by grocery sales data from market research firm Kantar on Tuesday.

Out of the London-listed UK grocers, Ocado posted the chunkiest annual sales rise, of 37% to GBP530 million. Its market share improved to 1.6% from 1.3%.

Among the traditional "Big Four", Tesco's market share slipped to 27.3% from 27.4% but sales rose 11% to GBP8.92 billion. At Sainsbury's, sales jumped 16% to GBP5.20 billion, though like Tesco, its market share slipped slightly, to 15.9% from 16.0%. Asda's sales rose 7.8% to GBP4.69 billion annually but its market share fell to 14.3% from 14.8%.

Morrisons shares were 0.6% higher early Tuesday. During the 12 weeks, its sales rose 13% to GBP3.41 billion, according to Kantar, and its market share inched up to 10.4% from 10.3%.

The grocer itself said Tuesday that like-for-like sales, excluding fuel, over Christmas and the New Year were 9.3% higher annually.

"All customer and brand metrics have improved, market share has grown, and our online and wholesale channels are growing very rapidly as we develop as a multi-channel business," the company said.

And for the 22 weeks to January 3, part of the second half of Morrisons' financial year, like-for-like sales, also excluding fuel, were 8.1% higher. Including fuel, like-for-likes were 1.9% higher during the period, the grocer noted that fuel sales were down 23%, hit by new virus restrictions on movement.

"Shopping patterns and customer behaviour were different this year as the COVID-19 restrictions made larger gatherings of family and friends more difficult. In the lead-up to Christmas we saw more customers shopping earlier than in previous years and a renewed focus on traditional Christmas fare. Champagne sales were up 64% compared to last year, whole salmon up 40% and Free From mince pies up 14%," Morrisons added.

FTSE 250-listed IT infrastructure technology firm Softcat rose 6.6%, the best among the mid-caps early on Tuesday.

Softcat said trading "has continued to be positive" since it updated the market back in November.

"Demand from our public sector customers has remained strong. The corporate picture has continued to improve but is also somewhat mixed, with some customers pursuing large projects and others taking a more cautious approach," the company added.

Softcat said it is "significantly ahead of where we expected to be at this stage".

Iron ore miner Ferrexpo rose 2.3% after announcing plans for 13.2 US cents special interim payout.

"The special interim dividend announced today reflects the strong operational and financial performance of the group in 2020, and strong balance sheet," the company said.

In respect to the 2020 financial year, Ferrexpo has declared 33.0 cents in dividends, up two-thirds from 19.8 cents. It will consider a final dividend ahead of reporting on its 2020 results in March.

Ryanair slipped 0.6% as it reported another sharp fall in traffic.

Traffic in December was 83% lower as the aviation industry continued to be hit by Covid-19 restrictions across the globe which dried up demand for travel and emptied skies.

The company operated roughly 22% of its usual December schedule and with a 73% load facor.

On a rolling annual basis, traffic was roughly two-thirds lower.

The pound was quoted at USD1.3587 on Tuesday morning in London, flat from the London equities close on Monday.

England was slapped with a third nationwide lockdown, as the UK struggles to cope with a new variant of Covid-19.

In a televised address to the nation on Monday evening, the UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson pinned hopes on the rollout of vaccines to ease the restrictions, but warned that the measures being introduced immediately are expected to last until mid-February.

It is thought that measures are unlikely to be relaxed until around 13 million people aged over 70 or classed as extremely clinically vulnerable have received the vaccine and been given enough time to be protected – about two to three weeks after getting the jab.

Almost 14 million people in the UK could be in line for a Covid vaccine by the middle of February, in line with plans announced by the prime minister.

Vaccine minister Nadhim Zahawi said the NHS "family will come together" to get 13.9 million doses prepared for the most vulnerable by the middle of next month.

The euro stood slipped to USD1.2267 from USD1.2275 at the European equities close Monday. Against the yen, the dollar was trading at JPY102.91, down from JPY103.10.

Retail sales in Germany grew in November, ahead market expectations, according to data from Destatis.

Sales were up 1.9% month-to-month and 5.6% annually.

FXStreet-cited consensus predicted a 3.9% annual jump and a 2% monthly fall.

The economic events calendar on Tuesday has German unemployment figures at 0855 GMT.

Attention will also be on the Georgia Senate runoffs that will determine US Senate control and could decisively impact the start of Joe Biden's White House tenure. Two Senate seats are up for grabs. If US President-elect Biden's Democrats win both, the upper house of the US Congress would be split 50-50 but with Vice President Kamala Harris having a tie-break vote.

"The logical thinking is if the Democrats were to win both seats, then the knee-jerk reaction would be for the Treasury curve to steepen on higher stimulus expectations," Axi analyst Stephen Innes added.

US stock market futures were slightly lower ahead of the vote. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite are all called down 0.1%.

Gold prices inched higher on Tuesday. The precious metal was quoted at USD1,942.32 an ounce, up from USD1,940.70 at the London equities close on Monday. Brent oil slipped to USD50.96 a barrel from USD51.04.

By Eric Cunha; ericcunha@alliancenews.com

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