Retailers take tumble on FTSE

Retailers took another tumble on the London stock market today as worries about Christmas spending continued.

Firms slid lower following concerns that consumers are tightening their purse strings as they find other ways to spend their cash.

In early trading fashion chain Next was down 7p at 710p, GUS off 3p at 549p and Kingfisher 2.5p lower at 208.5p.

Tim Hogman, trader at bookies Cantor Index, said: “A lot of retailers started January sales even before Christmas began in order to get bodies into the shops, so I think it has not been a great Christmas for the sector.”

However, gains from banking stocks helped offset the declines and after an volatile first hour trading the FTSE 100 Index was up 13.8 points at 3843.2.

The rise marked an improvement on Friday’s trading, when Footsie ended a dismal day nearly 3% lower.

A poor close on Wall Street on Friday – where the Dow Jones ended more than 100 points lower also dulled the mood in London today.

However banks managed to pull back some of Friday’s losses, with Lloyds TSB up 2p at 439p, Royal Bank of Scotland rising 16p to 1455p and HBOS up 8.5p at 633.5p.

Oil stocks were broadly unchanged despite the oil price hovering around two-year highs – Brent crude for delivery in February was up 44 cents (27p) at 30.60 dollars (£19) in early dealing today.

However BP was unchanged at 415p while Shell slipped 0.75p to 400.5p.