Retailers guided the FTSE 100 to an all-time high yesterday.
In a positive day for investors, London’s blue-chip index rose 1.6 percent, or 128.02 points, to 8,023.87.
That left the FTSE 100 above its previous record close of 8,014.31 in February last year.
The FTSE 250 mid-cap index also rose 1.1 per cent, or 208.09 points, to 19,599.39.
High Street chain stores and major supermarkets led the way as optimism ran through the city’s trading floors.
In a positive day for investors, London’s blue-chip index rose 1.%, or 128.02 points, to 8,023.87. That left it above its previous record close of 8,014.31.
Ocado gained 3.2 per cent, or 11.2 pence, to 358.4 pence after a weekend report said the online grocer is under pressure to ditch its London listing for New York.
Investors are said to have asked the company to properly explore the possibility of moving its core business across the Atlantic.
Ocado has been on a rollercoaster since its listing, with shares falling almost 90 per cent since hitting a high of 2,895p during the Covid lockdowns in September 2020.
The group could join drugmaker Indivior (down 0.5 per cent, or 8p, to 1,506p), which said in February it was considering moving its main listing from the UK to the US in the summer.
Building materials giant CRH and Flutter, owner of Paddy Power and Betfair, have already done this.
Joining Ocado in the retail rebound were the supermarket and high street giants.
Sainsbury’s soared 3.9 per cent, or 10.2 pence, to 269 pence, M&S gained 4.4 per cent, or 10.8 pence, to 256.6 pence and B&M rose 2.8 per cent, or 14.4p, up to 524.8p following a bullish research note from the investment bank. Jefferies.
Stock Watch –
Shares in an Australian mining company have doubled in value after it agreed to buy it for almost £200m.
Base Resources mines mineral sands containing metals used as pigments for paints and toothpastes and rare earths for magnets.
It has backed a £196m bid from Energy Fuels, a US-based producer of uranium and critical minerals, to buy all its shares.
The shares soared 122.2 per cent, or 6.6p, to 12p.
Tesco also rose after launching a £450m share buyback.
Britain’s biggest supermarket wants to buy £1 billion worth of shares by April 2025. The shares rose 3.5 per cent, or 9.7 pence, to 291.1 pence.
The price of bitcoin rose almost 2 per cent to around £66,000, just days after the digital currency’s so-called “halving event”, when the reward for mining bitcoin is halved and tends to occur every four years.
Cerillion, which provides billing, collections and customer relationship management software, expects to post a record first half as demand increases.
It said revenue and profits appear to have risen 10 per cent to £22.5m and £10.9m respectively in the six months to the end of March.
The shares, however, fell 1.7 per cent, or 25 pence, to 1,470 pence.
Medical diagnostics company Cambridge Nutritional Sciences, which is behind a health app that helps patients monitor which foods should be avoided and replaced, also reported a strong set of results.
The group expects revenue to have risen 30 per cent to £9.8m in the year to the end of March, beating market forecasts.
The company should also return to profit after making a £2m loss the previous year. The shares soared 13.9 per cent, or 0.45p, to 3.7p.
Cambridge-based streaming video specialist Aferian has had a day to forget after issuing a profit warning and revealing that its chief executive, Donald McGarva, plans to leave in October.
The group said it has been hit by a drop in orders as customers delayed spending. The shares fell 36 per cent, or 4.5p, to 8p.