MARKET REPORT: Frasers Group back in fashion with City boosting Ashley

Analysts have given Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group retail empire a boost by upgrading the stock.

RBC Capital Markets said the valuation fails to recognize the likely resilience of its core sports retail business, as well as its real estate assets and strategic holdings.

Analysts estimate Frasers’ strategic investments are worth more than £900m, equivalent to around 200p per share, with the majority of this figure linked to the group’s stake in German fashion label Hugo Boss. .

Analysts at RBC value Frasers shares at 1,050 pence each, a significant increase from the current level.

FTSE 100-listed Frasers rose 1.7 per cent, or 13p, to 780p. Peer JD Sports found support in its wake, rising 0.9 per cent, or 1.05p, to 124.65p.

With interest rate decisions also due to be made this week in both the UK and US, as a result of the very divisive US presidential election, investors were surprisingly optimistic.

The FTSE 100 index rose 0.09 per cent, or 7.09 points, to 8,184.24, but the FTSE 250 index fell 0.1 per cent, or 18.45 points, to 20,461.29.

NatWest topped the FTSE 100 leader board, gaining 2.6 per cent, or 9.8p, to 385.1p, hitting an 11-year high as Peel Hunt analysts raised their price target for the lender. 410p to 450p after recent results.

Other banks also made gains, with Lloyds adding 0.7 per cent, or 0.4 pence, to 54.82 pence, and Barclays gaining 1.2 per cent, or 2.9 pence, to 243.5 pence.

The advance in blue-chip stocks was helped by a rally in energy giants thanks to a stronger oil price after OPEC+ announced it would delay production increases for another month.

Shell rose 0.6 percent, or 15 pence, to 2,594 pence, and BP gained 1 percent, or 3.8 pence, to 382 pence.

Anglo American lost 0.2 per cent, or 5.5 pence, to 2,390.5 pence as the miner agreed to sell its 33.3 per cent minority stake in the Jellinbah East and Lake Vermont steel coal mine joint venture in Australia.

Telecommunications giant BT Group rose ahead of its third-quarter results due later this week, rising 1.4 per cent, or 1.9 pence, to 142.15 pence.

But after strong gains following last week’s results, consumer goods giant Reckitt Benckiser fell 1 per cent, or 49 pence, to 4,945 pence, hit by a downgrade of market performance by the broker’s analysts. American Bernstein.

Smith & Nephew fell 0.4 per cent, or 3.8 pence, to 963 pence, as analysts at Jefferies cut their price target on the medical technology company’s shares following recent disappointing results.

On the second line, defense manufacturer Chemring lost initial gains made following the news of two contracts won by the defense manufacturer, one in Germany and the other in the United States. The shares closed down 0.8 per cent, or 3p, at 353p.

Among small caps, financial advisory firm DSW Capital rose 18.2 per cent, or 10p, to 65p after buying DR Solicitors, a healthcare-focused law firm, for £6.1 millions.

Fuel cell technology provider AFC Energy soared 31.6 per cent, or 2.56p, to 10.66p after reporting better-than-expected annual trading, driven mainly by generator sales powered by hydrogen to Speedy Hire Services for leasing to customers.