Sector movers: Grocers slip as investors eye digital threat

Grocers and General Retailers paced losses at the start of the week amid negative read-across from corporate transactions elsewhere in their respective sectors.

At the weekend, and following years of intense competition from online retailers, French food retailer Carrefour sold an 80% stake in its Chinese operations for $698m to Suning, in which e-commerce giant Alibaba holds a stake, underscoring the threat posed by the likes of Amazon.com to it and its peers in their core markets.

In July, Carrefour tied the knot on a global purchasing alliance with Tesco, even as Amazon.co expands its efforts with Morrison.

To take note of, consultancy Kantar was scheduled to publish its grocery market share figures for the 12 weeks to 16 June during the following session.

Weighing on General Retailers, and also at the weekend, German peer Metro rejected an unsolicited bid from EP Global Commerce valuing the company at €16.0 per ordinary share, for a premium of just 3% versus their closing price on 21 June.

BT Group weighed on the usually interest rate sensitive space as analysts continued to express caution towards the carrier's plans for capital expenditures.

Deutsche Bank downgraded the firm's shares from 'hold' to 'sell' and cut its target price from 217.0p to 175.0p, telling clients that the company's rising capex on on alt-FTTH was a threat to the recovery in its operating profits.

Tobacco shares remained under pressure, with those of British American Tobbacco contiuing to trade near their 52-week lows.

Top performing sectors so far today

Electronic & Electrical Equipment 8,353.78 +2.19%

Software & Computer Services 2,361.76 +1.50%

Leisure Goods 12,121.69 +1.38%

Beverages 27,129.15 +0.99%

Household Goods & Home Construction 15,834.31 +0.87%

Bottom performing sectors so far today

Fixed Line Telecommunications 2,319.06 -2.14%

Food & Drug Retailers 3,821.17 -1.59%

General Retailers 2,036.78 -1.22%

Forestry & Paper 19,565.53 -1.19%

Tobacco 30,506.44 -0.80%