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London stock market rises sharply in midday trading

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-07-02 21:44

LONDON  -- The fall in retail stocks was offset by rising financial and mining stocks, and by midday the FTSE 100 index was up 70.9 points at 5,550.8.

Retailing shares slipped after Marks & Spencer surprised the market with news of sliding sales.

M&S shares sank 19 percent after it said British like-for-like sales were down 5.3 percent. The news also hit Next, down 7.6 percent, and Sainsbury's, 6.4 percent lower.

AstraZeneca jumped 5.6 percent after it won a US patent case over its Seroquel drug.

In the FTSE 250, shares in housebuilders tumbled after Taylor Wimpey issued a gloomy trading update. Taylor Wimpey's share price halved after it said it had failed to secure extra funds and that sales had dropped sharply.

Other housebuilders also suffered with Barratt Developments down by nearly 30 percent, Redrow 26 percent lower and Persimmon dropping 18 percent.