FTSE Drops After Supermarket Underperformance

Leading shares have fallen back, weighed down by some poor corporate results and continuing worries about global growth, particularly in China.

So the FTSE 100 is down 29.33 points at 6370.40 following a late sell-off on Wall Street and concerns that, although HSBC’s manufacturing index for China had risen from 50.2 to 50.4, the country’s economy is still flagging. Mike van Dulken, head of research at Accendo Markets, said:

What failed to inspire was the key output component slipping to a five month low and HSBC saying “while manufacturing likely stabilised in October the economy continues to show signs of insufficient effective demand”. Cue more calls for more stimulus.

Among the fallers, Tesco has inevitably dropped back after a larger than expected black hole, down 8.25p to 174.75p.

Unilever – where new Tesco boss Dave Lewis used to work – has lost 55p to £24.79 after the consumer goods group reported a 2.1% rise in third quarter underlying sales, below expectations of a 3.7% increase and its weakest quarterly growth in nearly five years.

 
The maker of Dove soap and Marmite blamed a weak European economy and a slowdown in emerging markets, including China. British American Tobacco make similar comments on Wednesday.

But the biggest faller at the moment is Tullow Oil, down 27p at 500.5p. The company announced disappointing results from a series of exploration wells in Kenya.

via The Guardian

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