Market round-up: FTSE ends in the red but Tesco and oil stocks gain

UK stocks ended the day firmly in negative territory on 14 January, following European and Asian markets into the red after a disappointing session on Wall Street set the tone the previous day while oil prices momentarily halted their decline.

The FTSE 100 index closed down 0.72% to 5,918.23, dragged lower by travel-related stocks, after multiple suicide bomb and gun attacks, later claimed by Islamic State, killed seven people and injured 17 in Jakarta earlier in the day.

InterContinental Hotels Group, Carnival Group and TUI AG all featured among the session's losers on the blue-chip index following a series of bomb explosions which rocked the Indonesian capital, while FTSE 250-listed Thomas Cook was also on the back foot.

Tesco was among the top performers on London's main index after delivering a positive surprise to its shareholders as Christmas sales rose 1.3% year-on-year compared with the expected 2.3% decline, while overall group sales climbed 2.1%.

After falling below the $30 (£20.8, €27.6) a barrel mark for the first time since 2004 late in the previous session, Brent crude rebounded, as it gained 2.1% to $30.97 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate rose 2.74% to $31.34 a barrel.

"Oil prices are enjoying a rare pause in their downward slide, but it still looks to be only a matter of time before they continue their exploration of the $20 zone," said Chris Beauchamp, senior market analyst at IG.

"The combination of bearish factors remains the key driver, with no hint of real production cuts coming from the key producers.

The rebound boosted commodity-related stocks, with BP, Glencore and Anglo American among the top risers on the FTSE 100, while BHP Billiton surged after analysts at Citigroup upgraded their rating on the stock to 'buy', even though they cut the price target to 750p following the sharp fall in the share price.

JD Sports was among the standout winners on the FTSE 250, after the sport apparel retailer revealed sales surged over the Christmas period, with like-for-like sales jumping 10.6% in the five weeks to 2 January.

As a result, the company said its outlook is now in line to beat its previous expectation of £136m (€180m, $196m) by 10%.

Earlier in the session, the Bank of England revealed member of the Monetary Policy Committee had voted 8-1 in favour of keeping interest rates unchanged at a record low 0.5%, the same level they have been at since March 2009.

"The fact that the January minutes were not unduly dovish leads us to believe that the Bank of England is still minded to raise interest rates before the end of the year," said Howard Archer, chief European & UK economist at IHS Economics.

"Our current expectation is based on the assumption that economic growth will be reasonable over the first-half of 2016, earnings growth sees some renewed pick-up amid a tightening labour market and consumer price inflation trends gradually up."

FTSE 100 risers

Anglo American 263.25p +13.74%
Glencore 78.23p +8.85%
BHP Billiton 658.70p +6.31%
Tesco 168.05p +6.16%
BP 348.65p +3.81%

FTSE 100 fallers

InterContinental Hotels Group 2314.00p -6.99%
Carnival 3658.00p -6.18%
Merlin Entertainments 407.50p -5.19%
TUI AG Reg Shs (DI) 1195.00p -4.86%
Taylor Wimpey 189.40p -4.82%

FTSE 250 risers

B&M European Value Retail S.A. (DI) 277.20p +7.99%
Tullow Oil 139.10p +7.91%
Vedanta Resources 240.60p +7.70%
Euromoney Institutional Investor 1072.00p +5.62%
Amec Foster Wheeler 398.70p +5.20%

FTSE 250 fallers

Restaurant Group 522.00p -18.18%
Thomas Cook Group 109.80p -8.12%
Betfair Group 3627.00p -6.30%
WH Smith (ex dividend) 1606.00p -6.14%
Worldwide Healthcare Trust 1767.00p -5.91%