LONDON MARKETS: FTSE 100 Ends At Fresh Record As Wm. Morrison Leads Grocers

Grocer 'broke the Debenhams-then-Mothercare double whammy of truly terrible post-Christmas updates'

U.K. stocks closed higher Tuesday, with the blue-chip index setting another record as Wm. Morrison Supermarkets PLC helped lead gains in retail shares following its upbeat Christmas sales update.

What the market is doing: The FTSE 100 index rose 0.5% to end at 7,731.02, topping a prior all-time closing high notched last week and erasing Monday's drop of 0.4% (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/ftse-100-eases-back-from-record-as-retailers-home-builders-fall-2018-01-08).

The pound traded at $1.3516, down from $1.3568 late Monday in New York.

Read:These 5 charts are all 'flashing green' for more U.K. stock records (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/these-5-charts-are-all-flashing-green-for-more-uk-stock-records-2018-01-08)

What's driving the market: The retail sector was in the spotlight, as Morrison said comparable sales during the Christmas season rose 2.8%.

"Helping the FTSE out was a giddy Morrison, which broke the Debenhams-then-Mothercare double whammy of truly terrible post-Christmas updates with a rather impressive statement of its own," said Connor Campbell, financial analyst at Spreadex, in a note.

Meanwhile, Kantar Worldpanel said British consumers spent GBP1 billion more during this year's Christmas period than last year's, and that the Friday before Christmas in 2017 was the busiest shopping day ever recorded even as stores offered the lowest level of promotions since 2009.

Separately, the British Retail Consortium said U.K. retail sales in December rose by 0.6% on a like-for-like basis from December 2016, when they had increased 1%. But comparable sales for nonfood items fell 1.9% over the three months to December, the lowest since March 2009.

Corporates: Wm. Morrison Supermarkets PLC shares (MRW.LN) climbed 2.4% as the company said like-for-like sales, excluding fuel, rose 2.8% during the Christmas period. The company, the first U.K. supermarket operator to report its performance after the Christmas season, also backed its fiscal 2018 guidance (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/morrisons-sales-rise-28-at-christmas-2018-01-09).

Morrison was one of the FTSE 100's big winners, with rival Marks & Spencer Group PLC (MKS.LN) also gaining 2.4%. J Sainsbury PLC (SBRY.LN) picked up 3.1%.

But Tesco PLC (TSCO.LN) was roughly flat even as Kantar said Tesco was the fastest-growing of the big four supermarkets during the 12 weeks to Dec. 31, as sales rose 3.1%. Tesco's third-quarter and Christmas update is due Thursday.

British American Tobacco PLC shares (BATS.LN) closed up 0.7% after the company said it expects a 6% increase in 2018 per-share earnings (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/bat-expects-6-earnings-boost-from-us-tax-reform-2018-01-09), stemming from U.S. tax cuts.

Home-builder Persimmon PLC (PSN.LN) said revenue rose 9% in 2017 (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/persimmon-sees-2017-profit-ahead-of-views-2018-01-09) to 3.42 billion pounds ($4.64 billion), and that it expects pretax profit for the year to be modestly ahead of market consensus. But its shares were down 1.2%.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 09, 2018 12:14 ET (17:14 GMT)