Consumer firms lift FTSE despite ‘Bleak Friday’ for households

Retailers and consumer firms performed strongly as the London markets made gains despite continuing woes over the cost-of-living crisis.

Solid oil prices and comments from the Kremlin suggesting there are no plans to threaten gas supplies to Europe helped keep sentiment broadly positive.

The FTSE 100 ended the day up 22.22 points, or 0.3%, at 7,537.9 points.

“There are days when markets seem to be seriously disconnected from the current economic climate,” commented Danni Hewson, an AJ Bell financial analyst.

“Today, as households grappled with a ‘Bleak Friday’ that unfortunately is no laughing matter, a number of UK retailers enjoyed a surprising rally.

“Moonpig, Curry’s, JD Sports and Next were among the day’s climbers along with Sports Direct owner Fraser’s Group, which unveiled a new buyback programme that will run to the end of the retailer’s financial year.”

Elsewhere, German stocks were initially shaky over reported threats from Russian President Vladimir Putin that gas supply could be restricted if payments are not made in roubles but settled after an apparent backtrack.

The Cac was up 0.37% and the German Dax increased 0.22% by the end of the session.

In the US, the main markets drifted as investors remained cautious despite positive jobs figures which showed US unemployment fall to a two-year low.

Meanwhile, sterling was fairly robust despite the latest UK factory data for March revealing a slowdown in activity amid supply disruption and shortages.

The pound increased by 0.04% against the dollar to 1.311, but fell 0.02% against the euro to 1.187.

In company news, shares in fashion chain Quiz surged after it said it expects to have swung to a slim profit over the last year for the first time since 2019.

The retailer said it expects to have made a profit of about £500,000 in the year to the end of March before tax after the good momentum it saw over Christmas continued.

Shares jumped by 4.75p to 15.5p after it said revenues for the past year were also beyond expectations.

Reckitt Benckiser was among the FTSE’s strongest performers after Barclays raised its valuation of the consumer stock.

Shares in the Durex owner increased by 178p to 6,010p.

Retail property giant Land Securities (Landsec) and British Land both fell into the red after brokers at Goldman Sachs cut their target price for the two firms.

Shares in Landsec were 8.6p lower at 777p at the close, while British Land finished 5.4p lower at 525p.

Elsewhere, Randall & Quilter closed 14.5p higher at 160p after the investment firm accepted a £482 million takeover by shareholders Brickell.

The price of oil lifted after sharp declines earlier in the week driven by US President Joe Biden’s plan to use oil reserves.

Brent crude increased by 0.2% to 105.11 US dollars per barrel when the London markets closed.

The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 were Reckitt Benckiser, up 178p at 6,010p, Anglo American, up 97p at 4,069.5p, Rio Tinto, up 144p at 6,225p, Sage, up 16.6p at 717.8p, and Howden Joinery, up 13.2p at 781p.

The biggest fallers of the day were Electrocomponents, down 36p at 1,048p, Compass, down 54p at 1,596p, Hargreaves Lansdown, down 22.8p at 985.2p, Ferguson, down 200p at 10,180p, and Coca-Cola HBC, down 30p at 1,596.5p.