Sainsbury’s and Ted Baker surge on Christmas sales

Shares in Sainsbury’s rose after beating forecasts for Christmas trading in its core supermarket business, while fashion retailer Ted Baker shares also jumped on an unexpectedly upbeat festive sales.

Sainsbury’s, Britain’s second biggest supermarket chain, joins fourth-ranked Morrisons in reporting better-than-expected Christmas trading and its shares gained as much as 7% yesterday.

It also said its recently-acquired Argos business was also performing well.