A decline in shares in supermarket Sainsbury PLC (LON:SBRY) helped FTSE100 lower in early deals Wednesday, while smaller cap shares also headed south.
Sainsbury's fell 3.43% to 276.10p, while Morrison's (LON:MRW) also went over 3% lower at 184.9p after the latter revealed yesterday it was to cut prices as part of a campaign to win back some ground lost to discounters Aldi and Lidl.
Sainsbury's had full year numbers out today, which showed underlying profits dropped by 14% to £587mln as sales slipped by 1.1% to £25.8bn. Like-for-like sales were 0.9% lower.
The results were well below analysts’ forecasts, who had been expecting underlying profits of around £613mln on £23.5bn of revenue.
FTSE100 fell 13.45 at the time of writing at 6,172, while the FTSEAIM 100 lost 0.22% to 3,379 and the FTSE AIM All share shed 0.08% to 725.310.
Among top London losers was Kibo Mining (LON:KIBO) after it reported findings of the Power Definitive Feasibility Study (PDFS) for its Mbeya Coal to Power Project (MCPP) in Tanzania.
Louis Coetzee, the group's chief executive, said the study (PDFS) confirmed the robust fundamentals of the project.
Also lower was Mexico- focused precious metals group Arian Silver Corporation PLC (LON:AGQ) , down 11.11% to 1p after it paid US$25,000 for the exclusive right to evaluate Tierra Nueva Mining's (TNM) Noche Buena gold and silver tailings project.
The firm inked a MoU to evaluate the private company's portfolio of mineral properties located in northern Mexico's Zacatecas state.
Shares in Westminster Group PLC (LON:WSG) saw shares drop over 8% to 10p as it told investors it expects a 70-seater fast ferry, purchased by the company recently, to leave for Sierra Leone this week.
It will be the group’s second ferry and it is expected to begin operations as soon as sea trails and in country formalities have been completed.
On the winning front, Forbidden Technologies plc (LON:FBT) has started a 12-month proof of concept study for its video-editing tool Forscene with a major UK broadcaster, sending shares over 16% higher in London to stand at 9p each.
Described by its chief executive as potentially its most significant deal yet, Forbidden is collaborating with an unnamed US editing software specialist on the study.
The UK broadcaster is paying for the proof of concept and will use Forscene to edit broadcast productions using cloud-based technology to speed up its workflows.
Small resource stocks were also higher, with Mongolia focused oiler Petro Matad (LON:MATD) regaining ground, up over 27.5% after news last Friday that partner Shell had exited from Block IV and V production sharing contracts.
Meanwhile, shares in Coal of Africa Ltd (LON:CZA) shot up almost 30% to stand at 3.15p as it announced it had reached an agreement over the deferred consideration payable by CoAL's subsidiary, MbeuYashu Proprietary Limited (MbeuYashu) in connection with its acquisition of the Chapudi Coal assets - part of the Greater Soutpansberg project.
Early snapshot
The heavy overnight falls dragged down the FTSE 100, sloughing off as much as 22p on market open, around 0.3% from yesterday's close.
Next was among the latest retailers to report a difficult start to the year. It warned that sales and profits could be lower than expected due to a potential slowdown in consumer spending.
Total sales in the quarter were down 0.2% compared to last year, while full price sales were 0.9% lower.
Meanwhile Sainsbury's reported the first fall in annual profits in over a decade, as declining food prices continued to hurt the supermarket chain.
Underlying profits fell to £587mln, down from £681mln the previous year.
Preview at 7.05am
London is set for a quiet opening after heavy falls overnight in both the US and Asia.
Financial spread bet firms suggest FTSE 100 may open near last night’s close of 6,186, but overseas markets were very weak and that may influence the index nearer the bell.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 140 points to 17,750, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq lower still in percentage terms.
News that Ted Cruz has dropped out of the race to be the Republican presidential candidate has left the way clear for Donald Trump, but traders said the dollar’s rally, China uncertainty and oil were again the main themes.
Asian markets reflected all three with heavy falls in Tokyo and Hong Kong though Shanghai was steady.
Australia was badly affected by the possibility of fines and penalties of US$44bn for Aussie-listed BHP Billiton and Brazilian metals group Vale over the Samarco mine disaster.
A tailings dam breach at the mine in Brazil killed 19 people and caused environmental chaos in the region.
Aside from BHP Biliton, early morning attention will be on Sainsbury’s, where full year results will show how it is dealing with the intense competition in the high street grocery business.
Expectations are relatively high, given the upbeat figures for the third quarter to January 9 that showed good trading over Christmas.
The supermarket, at that time, said it expected like for-like sales in the second half to be better than the first.