FTSE 100 edges higher after strong session for retailers

The FTSE 100 edged higher on Monday, outperforming its international peers after gains for retail giants just about offset losses for financial stocks.

The blue-chip index moved 5.35 points higher, or 0.06%, to end the day at 8,278.44.

Marks & Spencer, Sainsbury’s and Tesco were among the day’s biggest risers, as well as fashion chains Next and JD Sports Fashion.

The gains helped lift the FTSE which was also being dragged down by shares falling more than 5% for Phoenix Group.

Investors were reacting to the retirement and insurance firm reporting that it had scrapped plans to sell its SunLife over-50s financial services business.

The group said it had decided to halt the process because of “uncertainty in the protection market”, three months after telling investors it was considering selling the finance specialist.

Meanwhile, it was a weaker day of trading for other top European share indices. In Paris, the Cac 40 fell 0.21% and in Frankfurt, the Dax was down 0.35% at close.

Over in the US, it was a mixed start to trading with the S&P 500 down about 0.2% and Dow Jones up 0.3% by the time European markets closed.

The pound was strengthening amid expectations among financial markets that UK interest rates could be kept on hold on Thursday, after being cut to 5% in August.

Sterling was up around 0.5% against the US dollar at 1.32, and up 0.2% against the euro at 1.187.

The price of Brent crude oil was up 1.2% to 72.4 US dollars per barrel.

In other company news, shares in TT Electronics tumbled by nearly a third after warning investors it was expecting to take a hit to profits as a result of production issues at two factories in the US.

The engineer and manufacturer of electrical components said higher production costs and fewer sales are set to impact its North American operating profit by between £13 million and £18 million.

Shares in TT Electronics were 31.6% lower at close.

UK car parts supplier TI Fluid Systems said it had rebuffed a second takeover approach from Canadian rival ABC Technologies worth more than £870 million.

Shares in the Oxford-based business moved higher on news of the latest approach, which TI Fluid said “significantly undervalued” the firm and its prospects. Its share price was 14.1% higher at close.

The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 were JD Sports, up 5.4p to 154.3p, Marks & Spencer, up 10.2p to 361.4p, Kingfisher, up 6.2p to 290.3p, AB Foods, up 43p to 2,232p, and Tesco, up 6.1p to 370.6p.

The biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 were Phoenix Group, down 30.5p to 546p, Melrose Industries, down 12.3p to 467.2p, Spirax, down 150p to 7,365p, Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust, down 12.2p to 806.4p, and Prudential, down 9p to 615p.