M&S woes lean on FTSE

The City put Marks & Spencer under further pressure today during an otherwise solid start to the trading week for the London stock market.

Fresh broker downgrades in the wake of last week’s shock profits warning forced M&S 4% lower – 9.25p at 217.25p – by mid-morning.

Across the London market, a quiet session for corporate updates and a decent performance in Asia overnight meant the FTSE 100 Index climbed 13.4 points to 5427.

On Friday, the top share index narrowly avoided closing below the 5400 barrier - key for those ready to call a bear market – after hefty falls in the banking and insurance sectors wiped another 1% off the blue-chip index.

Consumer-facing stocks led the rally, with Carphone Warehouse ahead 8.8p to 187.8p after Goldman Sachs reinstated its coverage of the broadband and phone retailer with a buy rating.

British Airways was also 2% higher, up 4.75p to 201.75p, after no-frills rival easyJet reported strong passenger figures and said it flew with a load factor of 86.9% in June, in line with last year. Shares responded in the FTSE 250 Index with a gain of almost 3%, or 6p to 250.5p.

Banks remained in focus, with Bradford & Bingley still under pressure and Royal Bank of Scotland topping the Footsie fallers board.

A downgrade of RBS by Cazenove meant the NatWest owner fell 8.95p to 197.3p, although Halifax Bank of Scotland recovered an earlier fall to stand half a penny higher at 272p – just below its 275p rights issue price.

Continued worries over Bradford & Bingley’s own fundraising plan left its shares 5.75p weaker at 44.25p and giving it a market value of just £273 million.

As well as the fall by M&S, Next shares were down 14.5p to 858.5p after a downgrade from Panmure Gordon stockbrokers.