Morning Markets: Tesco supports FTSE

Strong Christmas sales at Tesco helped keep the FTSE in the black with a slight rise of 0.02% to 5,539.38 in early trading.

The UK's biggest retailer celebrated its strongest festive performance for three years, prompting a rise in its share price of 2.05% to 426.40p. Property company Land Securities has been added to the conviction buy list of broker Goldman Sachs, helping its share price rise 1.24% to 691.50p. Pharmaceuticals giant Smith & Nephew also saw strong gains, rising by 1.33% to 650p. Meanwhile, money broker ICAP fell 2.20% to 441p on the same day as its founder, Conservative party treasurer Michael Spencer, sold £45m of his shares in the business through HSBC. Cash strapped plumbers merchant Wo...