Food, fashion and copper

The headline index opened on the back foot taking its cue from a poor performance in Asia which set a downbeat tone after the Bank of Japan decided not to invoke stimulus measures. Wall Street ended mixed overnight, offering little positive support.

“Supermarket giant Sainsbury’s has seen its first rise in sales for two years but the price war with discounters is far from won,” says AJ Bell Investment Director Russ Mould.

“Sainsbury’s latest figures were better than expected and the group will be cheered by both the 0.1% increase in like-for-like sales and maintaining its market share in the fourth quarter. Sainsbury’s remains committed to phasing out multi-buy promotions and focus on simplifying its strategy in favour of lower regular prices.

“Fashion retailer French Connection could not recover from a disappointing first half and saw full year underlying operating losses rise to £4.7m from £0.8m last time. Reaction to this year’s collections have been strong but the group has a lot of work to do get back to profitability.

“Antofagasta's share slumped in early trading after full-year revenues fell by 34% due to plunging copper prices. Each of the group’s mines continued to generate cash flow at the operating level but earnings fell by 54% following a 24% drop in copper prices and a 9.5% fall in sales volumes.. Antofagasta has responded by focussing on its core business and net cash costs this year are set to return to levels not seen since 2012.”

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