Sector movers: Grocers and non-life insurers lead gains

Grocers and non-life insurance paced advances, with Morrisons buoying the former after posting what analysts described as an "encouraging" set of interims.

Wm Morrison saw like-for-like sales excluding fuel and VAT increase by 1.4% during the first six months of the year, driving a 11% rise in profits before tax to £157m or up 34% including the prior year’s restructuring costs.

Like-for-like sales growth in the second quarter of 2.0% was double the consensus estimates, while the interim PBT was around 5% ahead of the consensus forecast of £149m.

ShoreCap analyst Clive Black also pointed out the company's strong free cash generation, which was up by 16% year-on-year to reach £558m.

Non-life insurers were also racing ahead on Thursday after Fitch forecast UK motor insurance premiums would continue to rise because the levels of reserve releases that have supported profitability in recent years are unsustainable in the long term.

That drove gains in the likes of Admiral Group, Direct Line and Hastings Group.

RSA on the other hand was also getting from reports in Bloomberg that last night's closing price auction feature one or more large buyers.

Over in the beverages space, Credit Suisse upgraded its recommendation on CCH from 'neutral' to 'outperform' and raised its target price from 1,600p to 1,950p.

General retailers were at the bottom of the pile, with shares in Next and Sports Direct acting as the biggest drags.

The former posted first half profits before tax of £342.1m (Canaccord Genuity: £338.0m) but said trading since the period end had remained "challenging".

Goldman Sachs reiterated its 'sell' recommendation on stock of the latter and cut its target price from 300p to 275p on the heels of the company's downwardly revised guidance for fiscal year 2017.

Top performing sectors so far today
Food & Drug Retailers 2,712.96 +3.54%
Insurance (non-life) 2,713.22 +1.36%
Beverages 17,131.62 +1.06%
Technology Hardware & Equipment 2,052.20 +0.95%
Automobiles & Parts 7,402.32 +0.86%

Bottom performing sectors so far today
Food Producers & Processors 8,091.50 -0.95%
General Retailers 2,583.35 -0.95%
Industrial Metals & Mining 1,273.44 -0.77%
Industrial Transportation 3,022.71 -0.71%
Oil & Gas Producers 6,845.55 -0.45%