Britain’s top equity index recovered on Wednesday, lifted by a rise in the shares of major supermarket operators following better-than-expected figures at Sainsbury’s.

The blue-chip FTSE 100 index, which had fallen for the last three sessions, climbed 0.6 per cent to 6,406.83 points in early trading.

Sainsbury’s was among the top performers, rising 4.2 per cent after it posted a better-than-expected performance in the Christmas quarter, even though it suffered a loss of share to discounters and an intensifying industry price war.

“Sainsbury’s results were not as bad as feared, and that’s lending a bit of support and stability to the FTSE,’’ said Hantec Markets analyst Richard Perry.

The rise in Sainsbury’s also drove up the shares of its rivals, such as Tesco, which posts an update on Thursday, and WM Morrison and Marks & Spencer.

However, elsewhere in the retail sector, shares in Boohoo.com, which is not in the blue-chip FTSE 100 index, slumped by around 40 per cent after the online fashion firm cut its profit outlook.

Traders also said that a deepening fall in oil prices, with Brent crude oil prices falling below $50 a barrel for the first time since May 2009, would keep the FTSE under pressure.

Beaufort Securities sales trader Basil Petrides said he would avoid buying large positions on the FTSE for now, preferring to see if any fall pushed the FTSE down to its mid-December low of 6,150 points.

“The market is going to tread water while the oil price remains under pressure,’’ Petrides said.

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