LONDON (ShareCast) - Healthy trading in supermarket and food related stocks led the London market back into the green on Wednesday.
The blue chip FTSE 100 closed up by 1.13% or 76.47 points at 6,830.27 points having been greeted by positive news from supermarkets. Market leader Tesco (up 4.63%) saw its shares surge on reports it has invited at least six firms including KKR and Carlyle Group to bid for its South Korean unit Homeplus, which is valued at about $6bn.

According to people familiar with the matter cited by Reuters, London-based CVC Capital Partners, Hong Kong-based Affinity Equity Partners and Asia-focused MBK Partners were also invited to bid.

Additionally, rival Sainsbury's (up 0.62%) made modest gains, as its first quarter sales came in slightly better than expected. The 2.1% fall in like-for-like sales for the 12 weeks to 6 June, excluding fuel, beat analysts' expectations for a 2.3% decline.

The positivity fed through to the wider market with Morrisons (up 4.96%), along with other retailers Associated British Foods (up 5.35%), Ocado (up 5.69%) and Home Retail (up 5.63%) all trading higher.

Mining and materials stocks reversed some, if not all, of the losses they incurred as the base metals markets, excepting tin (down 0.3%), generally saw improved trading on the London Metal Exchange.

Anglo American (up 2.50%), Antofagasta (up 1.31%), BHP Billiton (up 2.55%), Fresnillo (up 3.15%), Glencore (up 1.82%) and Vedanta (up 4.10%) led the recovery, even though iron ore related mining stocks continued to suffer. Acacia Mining (up 4.58%) was the top FTSE 250 riser in the segment, ending the session up 13.50p or 4.58% at 308.20p.

Finally, small cap Amur Minerals provided also provided a footnote. Following the issue of its production licence for the Kun Manie nickel copper sulphide deposit, the company's shares closed up 1.75p or 5.98% at 31p.

Top five sectors

Food & Drug Retailers 3,101.31 +132.81 +4.47%
Food Producers 8,015.55 +266.95 +3.45%
Construction & Materials 4,941.27 +101.73 +2.10%
Mining 13,752.97 +281.21 +2.09%
Household Goods & Home Construction 15,210.42 +272.75 +1.83%

Email this article to a friend

or share it with one of these popular networks:

• DIGG
• FACEBOOK
• STUMBLEUPON
• MIXX
• YAHOO BUZZ
• DELICIOUS
• REDDIT
• NEWSVINE