Sector movers: Sainsbury bid talk lifts food retailers

20th Oct 2009 10:40

Shares in J Sainsbury are lifting the food and drug retail sector higher amid talk that Qatar's sovereign wealth fund will use the £1.3bn proceeds from the sale of a stake in the bank Barclays to make an offer for the supermarket.Peers Morrisons and Tesco are also higher.Not all is well in the food retail sector though. Greggs slips back even though the bakery chain served up a 2.5% rise in third quarter sales and said it is on track to deliver full results in line with company expectations.Autonomy is dragging the software and computer services sector lower. The company, which specialises in what it terms 'meaning based computing', said revenues in the three months to 30 September rose to $191.61m from $121.11m in the third quarter of 2008, but the market seems unimpressed.Top performing sectors so far todayFood & Drug Retailers 4,490.63 +1.87%Technology Hardware & Equipment 351.75 +1.65%Beverages 7,498.59 +1.21%Gas, Water & Multiutilities 3,645.73 +0.94%Fixed Line Telecommunications 1,938.26 +0.89%Bottom performing sectors so far todaySoftware & Computer Services 589.72 -2.09%Banks 5,097.15 -1.49%Personal Goods 9,853.07 -1.47%Real Estate 2,076.22 -1.01%Industrial Transportation 2,018.98 -0.89%