FTSE 100 falls below 5000 to lowest since July 2010, but Tesco bucks trend

As global markets suffered another rout, with the FTSE 100 flirting with bear market territory and finishing below 5000 for the first time since July 2010, Tesco was one of a handful of risers ahead of its figures on Wednesday. The supermarket, which recently launched a price cutting campaign, is widely expected to record its worst six monthly performance for twenty years. But analysts at UBS raised their rating on the business in the expectation of better things to come. Analysts Mike Tattersal moved his recommendation from neutral to buy and his price target from 410p to 510, saying: Tesco management has become intensely focused on driving higher levels of capital efficiency across the business, in our view. As early actions become more evident over the coming 12 months, we believe this theme will become central to the investment case. In the near term, Tesco’s UK business remains the key determinant of sentiment towards the shares and we believe there are compelling reasons to believe that the freakishly challenging conditions that have prevailed in 2011 in the UK grocery industry will not be repeated next year. Fierce headwinds (VAT and fuel) will annualise, which, together with self-help initiatives, should deliver much healthier like-for-like sales growth from the core business in 2012. Tesco shares closed 9.6p higher at 380.1p making it the biggest riser in the leading index, one of only five companies in positive territory. As EU officials delayed a much needed bailout to Greece, and worries grew about the impact of the country’s financial woes on bank balance sheets, the FTSE 100 suffered another volatile day before finishing 131.06 points lower at 4944.44, a 2.58% decline which wiped £34bn off the value of Britain’s top companies. It is the fifth consecutive fall for the leading index. At its worst the FTSE 100 had fallen to 4868, putting it perilously close to the 4843 level which would mark bear market territory, a 20% fall from its recent peak at the beginning of July. Meanwhile in the US the S&P 500 did record a 20% drop from its recent high, while Germany’s Dax lost 2.9% and France’s CAC fell 2.6%. The prospect of a bailout at Franco-Belgian Dexia and a profit warning from Deutsche Bank sent the whole banking sector lower, with Barclays down 11.9p at 144.35p and Lloyds Banking Group 1.655p lower at 31.8p. Angus Campbell, head of sales at Capital Spreads, said: All across Europe equities were sold off as fears over the eurozone debt crisis mounted. It was a lack of liquidity causing investor concern, [since this] ultimately led to the nationalisation of Northern Rock in the UK and the destruction of Bear Sterns and Lehman Brothers in the US at the height of the last crisis. This time it is Dexia which is on the verge of being taken onto the government’s books even after having received a bailout back in 2008. Miners continued to fall on demand concerns, with Credit Suisse cutting its target prices across the sector by 5% to 40%. The bank said: Recent pricing in commodity markets has been driven overwhelmingly by macro sentiment, with fears of an economic implosion in Europe and, to a lesser degree the US, weighing heavily. Although the outlook is even more murky than normal, continued solid Chinese demand should provide “base-load” support for many commodities. However, this is unlikely to be enough to support pricing in the short term, with marginal demand and sentiment likely to continue to be driven primarily by events in the North Atlantic. So Rio Tinto dropped 107p to 2712.5p and Xstrata lost 26.9p to 764p. International Consolidated Airlines Group , the merged British Airways and Iberia, fell 5.2p to 149.3p on worries about the financial position of its US partner American Airlines, while Hargreaves Lansdown lost 35.3p to 412.6p on worries about the effect of the current market volatility on its investment business. Home Retail led the mid-caps higher, up 3.1p to 121.7p on continued bid talk, with Wal-Mart one name mentioned. But Nick Bubb at Arden poured cold water on the idea: These stories pop up every so often with Home Retail, to discomfort the shorts, and then soon die away. The fact is that Wal-Mart have put catalogue showroom chains like Argos out of business in the US and there is no way they would allow Asda to buy it, whilst this is the wrong time in the cycle for a structurally challenged operation like Argos to be attractive to private equity. Sell, while the ducks are quacking. But Rentokil Initial closed 4.15p lower at 66.35p after a sell note from RBS. Analyst Justin Jordan said: RBS hosted a salesdesk meeting with Rentokil management. We fear the City Link recovery is behind schedule and, with an uncertain outlook across other divisions, we reduce our 2012 pretax profit forecast by 7% and downgrade to sell [from hold]. On City Link, the parcels delivery business, in particular he said: Although City Link recently secured Marks & Spencer as a customer, we sense that converting prospects into customers is a frustratingly slow process that may slip into the first quarter of 2012. In addition, the business has not as yet reached 75% employed drivers. Visibility is low, with overall profitability highly dependent upon peak December trading. Tesco Barclays Lloyds Banking Group Rio Tinto Xstrata International Consolidated Airlines Group Hargreaves Lansdown Home Retail Rentokil Initial Nick Fletcher guardian.co.uk

Posted by on October 4, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.