FTSE advances as M&S surges
By Sudip Kar-Gupta LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's top share index pushed higher on Thursday, helped by a surge in the shares of retailer Marks & Spencer , which reported its best non-food sales performance for nearly four years. The blue-chip FTSE 100 index <.FTSE> ended up 0.4 percent at 6,833.46 points, with volumes relatively thin ahead of the Easter holiday break. M&S jumped 4.4 percent, making it one of the best-performing FTSE 100 stocks in percentage terms. The retailer said sales of general merchandise, spanning clothing, footwear and homewares, at stores open for more than a year rose 0.7 percent in the 13 weeks to March 28, its fiscal fourth quarter. It was the first time in 15 quarters that M&S had not posted a fall in non-food like-for-like sales, and full-year gross margin guidance for its food business was maintained at "up 10 to 30 basis points". "The continued strong growth in food proved that quality mixed with competitive pricing can more than match the discounters and big food supermarkets," said London Capital Group dealer Lewis Sturdy. ELECTION TV DEBATE Traders said UK construction data had also supported the FTSE 100. While growth in the construction industry slowed in March, confidence in the sector hit a nine-year high. Spreadex analyst Connor Campbell said the data was helping keep the FTSE afloat, even though uncertainty before the May 7 national election was likely to keep the index stuck in a tight range until the election outcome was clear. The FTSE hit a record high of 7,065.08 points last month. It has since slipped back but remains up 4 percent since the start of 2015. Prime Minister David Cameron will face off against six political rivals later on Thursday in the first and only full televised debate ahead of the unusually close election. Neither Cameron's Conservative Party nor Ed Miliband's Labour Party has a clear lead in the polls, while a possible referendum on Britain's EU membership, promised by the Conservatives, is adding to nervousness among investors. "The FTSE's natural predilection for the next month may be stagnation, as investors try and wait out the increasingly uncertain election run-in," said Campbell. (Additional reporting by Atul Prakash; Editing by Toby Chopra)
