LONDON (ShareCast) - Supermarket group Sainsbury's keenly awaited trading update proved a bit anti-climactic with like-for-like (LFL) sales growth below expectations. LFL sales in the 12 weeks to June 9th were up 1.4% on the corresponding period of last year, below market expectations of growth of between 1.6% and 2.0%. Total sales for what is the first quarter of the supermarket chain's first quarter were up 3.6% year-on-year, or 3.8% excluding fuel.

WPP was also taking a hit after shareholders rejected Chief Executive Sir Martin Sorrell's pay at the media conglomerate's annual general meeting (AGM) on Wednesday, with three-fifths of voters protesting against the remuneration report. The director has become the latest in a string of bosses to suffer a significant protest vote over pay packets in what is known as the "Shareholder Spring". The company's Chairman, Philip Lader, said: “We take the remuneration report vote seriously. We’ll consult with many share owners and we’ll then move forward in the best interest of our share owners and our business.”

Mining stocks were mixed, with the likes of industrial metals producers Vedanta and Evraz declining as investors seek to avoid riskier assets, although Fresnillo and Rangdold both pushed higher as gold prices rose mid-afternoon.


FTSE 100 - Risers
Fresnillo (FRES) 1,466.00p +2.59%
SSE (SSE) 1,379.00p +1.40%
Shire Plc (SHP) 1,903.00p +1.39%
ICAP (IAP) 349.50p +0.87%
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 5,815.00p +0.87%
ARM Holdings (ARM) 507.00p +0.60%
Unilever (ULVR) 2,067.00p +0.58%
Next (NXT) 3,067.00p +0.52%
Royal Dutch Shell 'A' (RDSA) 2,068.00p +0.39%
Diageo (DGE) 1,593.00p +0.35%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
Xstrata (XTA) 923.00p -4.85%
IMI (IMI) 827.50p -4.83%
Man Group (EMG) 71.00p -4.70%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 904.00p -3.78%
Evraz (EVR) 256.80p -3.71%
Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 282.00p -3.13%
GKN (GKN) 179.30p -3.03%
Smiths Group (SMIN) 980.50p -2.82%
Glencore International (GLEN) 356.50p -2.82%
Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,334.00p -2.63%

NR

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