Sector movers: Retailers hit by Credit Suisse comments, M&S falls

The general retail sector was out of favour on Friday after some cautious comments from analysts at Credit Suisse, with Marks & Spencer among the worst hit.The bank said that while 2013 has been a "remarkable year" for general retail stocks, it has also been a year of high single-digit downgrades across the sector, "leaving valuations quite stretched with UK retail [trading] at almost 15 times 12-month forward earnings"."While consumption should recover modestly in 2014, with UK we only forecast 1.7% growth in real consumption without further falls in the savings rate. As has occurred in the US this year we believe that the shift in spend into deep cyclical consumer durables in response to the housing market will be just as significant, and could lead to continued weaker spending in apparel."Credit Suisse singled out M&S, making downwards revisions to estimates to reflect recent economic statistics out in the UK. "Most recent UK data points for the third quarter to date have been tracking below our forecasts, and while volumes do built rapidly in the last three weeks, it seems very unlikely that M&S will meet demanding forecasts in this key quarter," the bank said, retaining its 'underperform' rating for the stock.The shares were down 0.96% at 469.77 before the close of trade.Debenhams, Halfords, Carpetright, Next and Kingfisher were also on the decline today, extending losses seen over recent days after the British Retail Consortium said that retail sales in the UK grew at an annual rate of just 2.3% in November, a slight slowdown from October 2.6% growth and well below the 3% increase expected by analysts. Like-for-like sales rose 0.6%, their weakest monthly performance since April."It remains tough out there on the High Street, with sales slow but growth steady," said David McCorquodale, Head of Retail at KPMG. "Shoppers are playing a waiting game and delaying purchases for as long as possible in the hope of securing a discount. Quite who will crack first in this war of nerves remains to be seen."Top performing sectors so far todayOil Equipment, Services & Distribution 22,807.70 +2.29%Industrial Metals & Mining 1,301.94 +1.87%Forestry & Paper 10,297.42 +1.81%Mobile Telecommunications 5,346.08 +1.79%Fixed Line Telecommunications 4,277.32 +1.59%Bottom performing sectors so far todayPersonal Goods 24,050.01 -0.63%General Retailers 2,663.21 -0.44%Industrial Transportation 3,172.88 -0.14%Insurance (non-life) 1,757.85 -0.13%Gas, Water & Multiutilities 5,399.44 -0.11%BC