Sector movers: Retailers out of fashion

30th Sep 2009 10:57

Retailers are lower, most notably Marks & Spencer, which posted another fall in quarterly like-for-like sales, although these were better than expected, suggesting consumer confidence may be creeping back. Alexon Group, the ladies clothing specialist, was the heaviest faller in the sector after saying it slumped into losses for the first half and that trading since then has been challenging.Elsewhere in clothes, online fashion retailer ASOS is down even after saying results to date are in line with management's expectations and it expects the first half outcome to be marginally ahead of the prior year.Updates from engineering stocks received a mixed reception from the market, but a strong performance from Smith Group helps lift the general industrial sector higher.Smith is higher after reporting a pre-tax profit of £371m in the year to July from £380m over the previous year. A number of its divisions were hit by the economic downturn, but the figures would have been much worse without a £77m currency boost.But fellow engineer Hamworthy falls back even after saying it expects its first half performance to be relatively strong due to the timing and mix of deliveries in the period, with the full year also on track.Also lower is Tanfield Group, manufacturer of aerial work platforms and commercial electric vehicles, which saw turnover slump 68% in the half year as it continued to experience volatility in all its market sectors due to the worldwide recession.Top performing sectors so far todayLife Insurance 4,026.10 +3.27%General Industrials 2,041.81 +3.11%General Financial 5,291.17 +2.26%Construction & Materials 3,706.76 +2.00%Insurance (non-life) 1,365.52 +1.67%Bottom performing sectors so far todayMobile Telecommunications 3,224.92 -0.55%General Retailers 1,624.66 -0.38%Real Estate 2,026.36 -0.38%Industrial Metals 4,411.02 -0.24%Oil & Gas Producers 7,773.02 -0.11%