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uk-analyst.com Stockmarket Reporter:
Retail stocks were under pressure on concerns that the pre-Christmas spending spurt had come to a premature close. Retail research company SPSL said that Boxing Day shopper numbers had risen 17% year-on-year, but that numbers for the week to 1 January slumped by nearly 8%. Seymour Pierce said that it thought that the period would probably be a bit worse than last year for retailers. However, the broker said that there were likely to be huge discrepancies between various stocks, with retailers such as JJB, Woolworths, Matalan, HMV and Signet amongst the losers. Shares in JJB fell 5.25p to 170.5p, Woolworths stock lost 1.25p to 37.5p, Matalan shares fell 2.5p to 180.5p, HMV stock lost 2.25p to 178.5p and Signet shares rose 2.75p to 110.25p. The first retailer to post its Christmas update is Next, which is scheduled to release data on Wednesday. Its shares fell 15p to 1520p.