UK stocks trade lower after the government survived a motion of no confidence by a narrow margin last night.
The FTSE 100 index of leading stocks is down 0.5% to 6,863 points leaving it more or less where it finished last week.
Banks, Insurers, Miners and Oils are the main losers while Consumer stocks such as BATS (BATS), Diageo (DGE) and Unilever (ULVR) are stemming the losses.
AB FOODS AND SAGE TOP RISERS
Fashion-to-foods group AB Foods (ABF) tops the FTSE 100 with shares up 6% to £23.00 after confirming its full year outlook thanks to better than expected results at Primark.
Sales at Primark were up 4% in the last quarter helped by an increase in store space and strong sales in Europe. Sales in its new Brooklyn store in the US were also better than expected.
The next best performer is technology firm Sage Group (SGE) with shares continuing their recovery up 5% to 633p on a positive trading update for the quarter to the end of December.
Sales were up 8% to £465m driven by 28% growth in subscription revenues and a strong performance in the US market.
Gambling firm GVC Holdings (GVC) adds 2% to 688p after posting a positive trading update for the final quarter of last year and guiding up earnings.
Information services firm Experian (EXPN) is another gainer up 2% to £19.10 after posting an acceleration in sales growth in its most recent quarter thanks to higher demand in the US and the success of new products.
ITV, WHITBREAD AND N BROWN LAGGING
Shares in broadcaster ITV (ITV) tumble 6% to 128.5p after an analyst at US broker Bank of America Merrill Lynch downgrades the stock to Sell.
Most analysts have a Buy or Hold recommendation and the average price target is 164p.
Hotel group Whitbread (WTB) is another FTSE 100 faller with shares down 2% to £46.68 after reporting poor underlying sales growth last quarter and forecasting no increase in profits until 2021.
Among mid-cap stocks N Brown (BWNG) slips 4% to 96.5p despite delivering in-line Christmas trading and maintaining its margin guidance for the full year.
Shares in ‘sweet treat’ maker Premier Foods (PFD) are flat at 34p after the company served up a mixed bag in its latest trading update.
Sales were down 2.2% led by a sharp drop in non-branded goods but household names such as Cadbury and Mr Kipling cakes saw strong demand.
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