TUESDAY MARKET CLOSE: Primark’s sparkle fails to lift market

With the nights drawing in, a warm glow enveloped Primark’s parent after the discount fashion chain shrugged off the unseasonably mild autumn to deliver a jump in annual profits.

Shares in Associated British Foods, which also owns Twinings tea and Silver Spoon sugar, closed up 112p, or 4.2 per cent, at 2,783p as the market cheered the better-than-expected results.

Analysts at retail researcher Conlumino said: “Shopping at Primark is no longer something to be whispered about. Improved perceptions of its quality and fashionability have helped Primark to break through the fashion snobbery.”

However, the wider market was left trailing in ABF’s wake and the FTSE 100 Index shed 34 points to end the day at 6,453.97 as a sharp fall in crude prices sent a shudder through the oil and gas sector.

Chris Beauchamp at IG said: “Oil firms are becoming more vulnerable by the day, and production cutbacks become almost inevitable among the major names if the crude price falls further. A similar situation prevails among gold and silver miners, meaning that even if other indices power on ahead, the FTSE’s heavy mining contingent will ensure that it gets left behind.”

Energy services giant Wood Group slipped 4.9 per cent, or 32.5p, to 632.5p and Premier Oil finished the session at 242p – a decline of 5.7 per cent or 14.6p.

Also feeling the chill was TT Electronics, which saw its shares slump by almost a third after new chief executive Richard Tyson said this year’s profits would be at the lower end of City hopes. The firm lost its spark and closed down 30.8 per cent, or 50p, at 112.5p.

Imperial Tobacco was one of the biggest risers in the top flight – up 4.1 per cent or 110p at 2,777p – following a 24.6 per cent rise in profits to £1.5 billion for the year to the end of September.