AGL 40.20 Decreased By ▼ -1.30 (-3.13%)
AIRLINK 129.11 Increased By ▲ 1.11 (0.87%)
BOP 6.60 Increased By ▲ 0.34 (5.43%)
CNERGY 4.03 Decreased By ▼ -0.10 (-2.42%)
DCL 8.45 Increased By ▲ 0.01 (0.12%)
DFML 41.25 Increased By ▲ 0.56 (1.38%)
DGKC 87.00 Decreased By ▼ -0.90 (-1.02%)
FCCL 33.35 Decreased By ▼ -0.75 (-2.2%)
FFBL 65.90 Decreased By ▼ -0.43 (-0.65%)
FFL 10.54 Decreased By ▼ -0.02 (-0.19%)
HUBC 110.70 Increased By ▲ 2.00 (1.84%)
HUMNL 15.23 Increased By ▲ 0.77 (5.33%)
KEL 4.78 Increased By ▲ 0.13 (2.8%)
KOSM 7.83 Increased By ▲ 0.50 (6.82%)
MLCF 41.90 Decreased By ▼ -0.82 (-1.92%)
NBP 60.50 Decreased By ▼ -0.34 (-0.56%)
OGDC 182.80 Increased By ▲ 3.83 (2.14%)
PAEL 25.36 Decreased By ▼ -0.34 (-1.32%)
PIBTL 6.26 Increased By ▲ 0.20 (3.3%)
PPL 147.81 Increased By ▲ 1.66 (1.14%)
PRL 24.56 Decreased By ▼ -0.35 (-1.41%)
PTC 16.24 Increased By ▲ 0.10 (0.62%)
SEARL 70.50 Increased By ▲ 0.30 (0.43%)
TELE 7.30 Increased By ▲ 0.08 (1.11%)
TOMCL 36.30 Increased By ▲ 0.10 (0.28%)
TPLP 7.85 Increased By ▲ 0.01 (0.13%)
TREET 15.30 Decreased By ▼ -0.29 (-1.86%)
TRG 51.70 Increased By ▲ 1.34 (2.66%)
UNITY 27.35 Increased By ▲ 0.45 (1.67%)
WTL 1.23 Decreased By ▼ -0.01 (-0.81%)
BR100 9,836 Decreased By -5.6 (-0.06%)
BR30 30,000 Decreased By -36.2 (-0.12%)
KSE100 92,520 No Change 0 (0%)
KSE30 28,786 No Change 0 (0%)

Britain's main stock index rose 0.4 percent to within a whisker of its recent record high, reversing an earlier swoon as oil majors jumped higher and the US dollar gained back ground against sterling, helping UK-listed dollar earners. Oil majors Royal Dutch Shell and BP delivered the biggest boost to the index as crude prices hit new two-and-a-half year highs, rising 1.5 percent and 1.3 percent.
Retailers stole the rest of spotlight after high street stalwart Next delivered a strong Christmas update. Next jumped 6.7 percent to the top of the index after its trading update surprised investors, with a sales beat driving the company to upgrade its full-year profit forecast.
Cheery results from the first UK retailer to report on the Christmas season caused a rally in retail stocks across the market, delivering relief to investors in a sector facing significant challenges. Mid and small-caps also jumped, with the FTSE 250 and the FTSE small caps rising 0.3 and 0.5 percent respectively.
Next's update was in stark contrast to the start of 2017 when the retailer issued a profit warning and its shares sank. But Wednesday's gains only brought it back to November levels before a third-quarter sales miss, and some were sceptical about how significant this sales performance was.
"The Next share price rollercoaster continues," said Mike van Dulken, head of research at Accendo Markets. "Management's update-by-update tinkering of guidance and sharp share price reactions only goes to reinforce how shareholders remain at the mercy of the UK consumer from one season to the next and exposed to short-termism."
Fashion retailer N Brown rose 7 percent and shares in small-cap department store Debenhams rose 1.2 percent. Marks & Spencer up 1.3 percent while Primark owner ABF gained 2.1 percent.
The gains across the board in retail were likely to have squeezed the many short sellers betting on the sector's downfall. Of the top ten most-shorted FTSE 100 stocks, five are in retail. EU regulatory reforms under the MiFID II market directive that came into force on Wednesday had little early impact on the market, traders said.

Copyright Reuters, 2018

Comments

Comments are closed.