Ocado was the FTSE 100’s top riser in afternoon trade on Monday ahead of a raft of Christmas updates from Tesco, Sainsbury’s and JD Sports this week.
Ocado themselves are set to provide a trading update next week.
UK retail companies have so far provided reasonably positive Christmas trading updates with Next and Greggs producing robust figures last week. In the face of concerns about the cost of living crisis, the FTSE 100’s consumer-facing companies have had a strong start to the year and are among the FTSE 100’s best performers in the new year.
Ocado shares are up 21% this year while Sainsbury’s and JD Sports have gained 13% and 11% respectively. The worst performers so far in 2023 are Centrica and Pearson, both down in the region of 5%.
FTSE 100 hits 4-year highs
The FTSE 100 momentarily traded at the highest level for four years on Monday, before falling back to 7,698, down 0.05%, at the time of writing.
A strong US jobs number last week ignited a rally in US stocks which continued into early European trade on Monday.
“The FTSE 100 briefly touched four-year highs as the trading week got away – a significant milestone and some way above where it was in the weeks before the pandemic hit in 2020,” said AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould.
“Although US jobs figures came in above expectations at the end of last week, suggesting the labour market is still tight, investors seem to have focused on wage growth coming in slightly below what had been pencilled in. From their perspective that might prompt the Fed to slow its rate rises, hence the positive market reaction to the figures.
“Further easing of China’s Covid measures, despite surging cases in the country, have also helped create a happier mood.”
Miners were among the beneficiaries of improving Chinese sentiment with Glencore and Antofagasta moving higher. Both miners are particularly exposed to copper, which has rallied as the Chinese economy reopens.