Next (NXT) has surged to the top of the FTSE 100 as investors welcomed full-year results from the embattled retailer that did not contain any more nasty surprises.
The shares were up 6.2% at £41.34 after reporting earning of £790.2 million in the year to the end of January, broadly in line with estimates but below 2016's £821.3 million.
But the lack of further bad news, after a profit warning in January, was enough to send the shares higher.
'The outlook statement does not feature another profit warning and the absence of fresh bad news is one source of support today for a share price which has fallen from £80 to £42 and a stock which has derated from an 18 times multiple of all-time high profits to barely 10 times depressed profits,' said Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell.
Mould also pointed to the stock's yield appeal, with the retailer planning four 45p special dividend payments this year on top of the ordinary payout, which last year amounted to 158p over the 12 months.
'Assuming that is again left at 158p, then a 338p-a-share total distribution equates to a dividend yield of 8% on the £42 share price, a sum which will exceed every stock in the FTSE 100 bar National Grid (NG), once taking into account special dividends,' he said.
Next was joined at the top of the index by rival retail stocks, buoyed by figures from the Office for National Statistics showing a 1.4% jump in retail sales in February, well ahead of the 0.4% that had been expected and a reversal from January's slump, now revised down to a 0.5% drop.
But economists were guarded about the bounce. 'While this may ease some of the worst fears about consumers cutting back on their spending, the underlying trend still looks weak and the suspicion remains that consumers are becoming appreciably more cautious as higher inflation squeezes their purchasing power along with muted wage growth,' said Howard Archer, chief UK and European economist at IHS Markit.
Marks and Spencer (MKS) was up 3.5% at 336.3p, Primark owner Associated British Foods (ABF) rose 1.2% to £26.36 and Tesco (TSCO) added 1.1% to 188.1p.
But that wasn't enough to lift the FTSE 100, which edged 10 points lower to 7,313. The FTSE 250 fared better, up 41 points at 18,874 and buoyed by the brighter outlook for retail. Dixons Carphone (DC) was up 3.1% at 311.7p, AO World (AO) rose 2.2% to 140p and WH Smith (SMWH) added 2.2% to £17.73.
Halma (HLMA) was the biggest riser on the index, up 7.2% at £10.29 as the hazard detection system maker posted strong order growth.
Ted Baker (TED) was the biggest 'mid cap' faller, down 5.3% at £27 despite posting strong sales and profits.