LONDON (Alliance News) - Shares in London opened higher on Tuesday, despite oil prices remaining close to USD30 a barrel, while shares in Tesco, J Sainsbury and Wm Morrison Supermarkets were rising following the results of the lastest Kantar Worldpanel UK supermarket survey.
The FTSE 100 index was up 0.3% at 5,888.74 points, the FTSE 250 up 0.1% at 16,681.99, and the AIM All-Share up 0.2% at 721.16. In Europe, the French CAC 40 was flat and the German DAX 30 was up 0.3%.
Sainsbury's once more emerged as the only 'Big Four' winner in the latest UK grocery sales figures from Kantar Worldpanel, with Tesco, Asda and Morrisons all suffering further declines.
Sainsbury's sales for the 12 weeks to January 3 rose 0.8% year-on-year, with its market share inching up to 17.0% from 16.9% the year earlier. The company has been consistently outperforming its rivals in recent months.
Tesco, still the market-share leader by some distance, saw sales decline 2.7% over the period, while its market share declined to 28.3% from 29.1%. Morrisons, which dropped out of the FTSE 100 at the end of 2015 after struggling all year, saw its sales decline 2.6%, with its market share slipping to 11.0% from 11.3%.
Asda, owned by US giant Wal-Mart Stores, saw sales fall 3.5%, Kantar said, and its market share fall to 16.2% from 16.8%, as it continued to take the biggest hit from the challenge of fast-growing German discounters Aldi and Lidl.
Shares in Tesco were at the top of the blue-chip index, up 5.4%, while Sainsbury's was adding 2.8%. Meanwhile, Morrisons was up 9.2% in the FTSE 250.
The midcap grocer also reported a fall in total sales in the Christmas trading period, although sales grew on a like-for-like basis excluding fuel, and it announced the planned closure of a further seven stores.
Morrisons said total sales excluding fuel were down 1.2% in the nine weeks to January 3, on the same period the year before, and down 1.7% including fuel. On a like-for-like basis, sales excluding fuel grew 0.2% but fell 0.6% including fuel. It said it continued to cut prices in the period while running fewer multi-save promotions, which boosted like-for-likes in premium products and in beer, wine and spirits, but this did have a knock-on effect on the number of items per basket.
Like-for-like numbers of transactions, however, increased 1.3% year-on-year, while online sales almost doubled.
FTSE 100-listed miner BHP Billiton was firmly in the red, down 2.5%, after being downgraded by Barclays to Underweight from Equal Weigh and by HSBC to Reduce from Hold.
Fellow pharmaceutical giant Shire was down 0.9%, following sharp gyrations of its share price at the close on Monday, after announcing a much anticipated agreement for US-based Baxalta, valuing the Chicago-based company at around USD32 billion and involving both a cash and shares portion within the consideration.
Debenhams was the best midcap performer, up 14%, after it reported growth in like-for-like sales in the first 19 weeks of its financial year, and in its Christmas trading period, as it benefited from less discounting and a reduction in stock levels.
The department store operator said group like-for-like sales in the 19 weeks to January 9 grew 1.9% on the same period the year before, rising 1.8% in the seven weeks to the same date.
Debenhams said it made further progress on its strategic priorities which helped to deliver a strong trading performance and record sales in the Christmas week. Less discounting and a lower level of promotional activity led to full-price sales growth of 5.0%, supported by a planned reduction in stock levels, particularly in weather-sensitive clothing categories.
Oil prices continued to decline overnight. Brent crude was quoted at USD30.75 shortly after the open Tuesday, having touched a new 11-year low at USD30.41 a barrel in early trading. Similarly, US benchmark West Texas Intermediate was quoted at USD30.53 a barrel Tuesday.
Oil-related stocks, which suffered on Monday, opened again in the red on Tuesday, with BP down 1.5% and Royal Dutch Shell 'A' shares down 0.9%. Midcaps Tullow Oil and Cairn Energy were down 6.9% and 4.7%, respectively.
Still in the economic calendar, UK's industrial and manufacturing production data are due at 0930 GMT. In the US, the Redbook index is due at 1355 GMT, and JOLTS job openings data are due at 1500 GMT. Jeffrey Lacker, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, makes a speech.
By Daniel Ruiz; danielruiz@alliancenews.com
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