Sector movers: Morrison pulls retailers higher ahead of results

6th Sep 2011 15:29

The food and drug retailers were on the way up, with FTSE 100 supermarket giants Morrison and Tesco among the high risers in the sector.Shares in fast growing supermarket chain Morrisons were 1.82% ahead at 290.3p by 15:46, ahead of the release of its interim results on Thursday.Broker Nomura Securities thinks the group's marketing campaigns such as Biggest Ever Price Crunch and Fuel Britannia will have gone down well with "austerity Britain". It reckons the company will unveil 2.0% growth, or better, in first half like-for-like (LFL) sales, excluding fuel and value added tax, compared to the first half of 2010. Helping gains in the sector were figures from the British Retail Council (BRC) , which showed that retail sales were up 1.5% in August (compared with last August). In the three months to August, food sales were 4.3% higher than the same quarter the year before."The differential between food and non-food performance continues to grow with food sales in value terms remaining relatively resilient," said head of retail at KPMG Helen Dickinson.Meanwhile, general industrial stocks were falling lower, with FTSE 250 recycled packaging and office products provider DS Smith providing a drag.The shares were trading 0.05% lower at 196.9p, despite the firm saying that trading since 30 April 2011 has been good after a strong contribution from its French acquisition Otor, a maker of corrugated packaging. Like-for-like volumes in corrugated packaging rose 3% in the last four months, in line with company targets. "This reflects its resilient fast-moving consumer goods customer base and continued progress on margins," it said. BCTop performing sectors so far todayIndustrial Metals & Mining 5,592.86 +1.73%Tobacco 31,217.06 +1.62%Mobile Telecommunications 3,630.86 +1.52%Electricity 8,009.36 +1.34%Food & Drug Retailers 4,309.71 +1.33%Bottom performing sectors so far todayAutomobiles & Parts 4,138.38 -2.32%Forestry & Paper 5,514.94 -1.25%General Industrials 2,581.35 -1.06%Electronic & Electrical Equipment 2,776.62 -1.03%Industrial Engineering 6,357.22 -0.98%