Sector Movers: Oil, retail stocks plus chatter on Vodafone inches London market higher

Oil and gas, petrochemicals and retail stocks drove the FTSE 100 higher on Thursday as chatter about Vodafone’s rumoured tie-up with Liberty Global went into overdrive.

At the close of trading, the blue chip index came in at 7,013.47 points up 0.09% as Vodafone shares continued to advance on speculation about a possible tie-up with Liberty Global. Nomura provided a further boost by lifting its stance on the stock from 'reduce' to 'neutral'.

The broker also hiked its target price from 185p to 235p, saying it sees a potential break-up of the UK telecoms titan – something which Liberty chairman John Malone has suggested should happen in order to strike a deal.

Nomura analysts noted: "Vodafone’s slow standalone progress and potential need to extend its investment phase and reset its dividend should give its board cause to consider alternative routes for value creation." Shares in the company rose over 1.5% to 242.50p on the news.

Sticking with telcoms, BT ratcheted up its tussle for viewing content with Sky by inking a deal with with 'Game of Thrones' producer HBO Home Entertainment, whereby customers can download programmes 'for keeps'.

All episodes of HBO programmes, including the first four Game of Thrones seasons, comedy series Entourage and crime drama True Detective, shown on BT TV’s set-top boxes will be automatically available for customers to watch on their smartphones, tablets or PCs at no extra cost. BT’s shares were broadly flat at the close of markets trading just shy of 460p.

However, the story of the day belonged to Marks & Spencer, which was leading FTSE 100 stock at one point trading at 594.50p up 11.00p or 1.89% having posted its first headline pre-tax profit in four years on Wednesday.

The retailer received further good news after Barclays upgraded it to 'equalweight' from 'underweight' and pushed the target share price to 600p from 390p following the company’s positive results.

Barclays also raised its 2016 earnings per share estimate to 35p from 33p and its estimate for 2017 to 37p from 34p. Food retailers shares were further boosted after Booker Group, the UK's biggest cash-and-carry wholesaler, agreed terms to buy local grocery chains Londis and Budgens from Ireland's Musgrave Retail Partners for an initial consideration of £40m.

While completion of the deal hinges on approval of the Competition and Markets Authority, investors cheered it by inching Booker’s share price up 18p or 11.84% to 170p making it the top riser for the day in percentage terms. Healthy retail sales data infused further positivity with sales volumes up 1.2% in April, after warmer weather encouraged shoppers to buy up summer clothing.

Oil and petrochemicals related shares also provided a positive footnote to trading with oil and gas produces, petrochemicals and oil equipment and oilfield services companies posting marginal gains. Among the notable risers were Tullow Oil (up 5.01%) and Petrofac (3.50%) as a drop in US inventories and Chinese manufacturing PMI data lent support to the oil price, even though broader market fundamentals have not materially altered.

Top five sectors

Oil Equipment, Services & Distribution 19,323.68 +488.76 +2.60%
Mobile Telecommunications 5,505.46 +74.93 +1.38%
Chemicals 12,143.87 +141.67 +1.18%
Food & Drug Retailers 3,154.56 +32.77 +1.05%
Oil & Gas Producers 7,318.24 +73.12 +1.01%