Consumer cyclicals boasted the largest sector gains in UK markets early on Friday, up 1.42% in the wake of several retail groups announcing surprising results.
JD Sports was up 25p, or more than 12%, to 230p following news sales rose 3.8% in the 48 weeks to 3 January. This was unable to pull the FTSE into the black however, with the index dipping more than eight points, or 0.18%, to 4,497.16 shortly after 9am. Sainsburys, down 3p 325, also bucked the trend with like-for-like sales up 4.5pc, excluding petrol, in the 13 weeks to Jan 3. This marked the chain's best-ever christmas and prompted plans to create between 3,000 and 4,000 jobs this year as part of an expansion plan. Fellow supermarket Morrisons led the losers - plummeting 16.5p to 81p -...
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