Sainsbury's beats sales forecasts, Assura adds 12 properties in first quarter

London open

The FTSE 100 is expected to open 21 points lower on Tuesday, having closed up 0.58% at 7,164.91 on Monday.

Stocks to watch

Sainsbury's said sales beat expectations in the first 16 weeks of 2021 as price cuts helped it outperform rivals in the grocery market. Total sales rose 1.6% in the 16 weeks to 26 June from a year earlier as like-for-like sales excluding fuel also rose 1.6%. The FTSE 100 supermarket group said it expected annual underlying pretax profit of at least £660m compared with equivalent profit of £356m last year.

Primary care property investor and developer Assura said it added 12 properties in the first quarter in an update on Tuesday, as its portfolio grew to 610 properties with an annualised rent roll of £123.5m. The FTSE 250 company said that following its £300m sustainability bond issue, its net debt totalled £954m as at 30 June, with £205m of undrawn facilities.

Newspaper round-up

The Bank of England will only require staff to work in the office one day a week from September, in contrast to many City banks that are asking workers to return to a full-time commute to the Square Mile. As the prime minister confirmed the lifting of most remaining Covid-19 restrictions from 19 July, a senior official said the central bank would trial a “hybrid” model allowing people working from home to participate in meetings at its Threadneedle Street offices. - Guardian

Britain’s largest asset manager has warned that Morrisons could be taken over by a private equity outfit for the “wrong reasons” after a third US buyout firm said it was considering a formal bid for the UK’s fourth-largest supermarket chain. Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM) said that potential buyers should not buy Morrisons to take advantage of a possibly undervalued property portfolio, to load it up with debt, or to cut its tax bill, in comments that appeared to criticise practices commonly associated with the private equity industry. - Guardian

Sir Jim Ratcliffe's chemicals empire is getting behind the global hydrogen rush, investing £25m in a new fund that will join the main London stock market. Ineos's energy division is buying 25m shares in HydrogenOne Capital Growth, amounting to 10pc of the £250m the fund is raising in an upcoming float. It is a relatively small sum for Ineos which makes annual revenues of $61bn (£44bn), but reflects its growing ambitions in energy beyond its oil and gas business, as well as soaring interest in hydrogen as countries try to slash their carbon emissions. - Telegraph

Ministers have admitted that footfall across Britain's high streets may never recover to pre-pandemic levels as Boris Johnson unveiled plans to lift restrictions in shops, restaurants and pubs on England's long-awaited freedom day later this month. Luke Hall, the minister for regional growth and local government, said Covid-19 had been the "largest, most synchronised shot to the economy, our social lives and the high street in living memory" and a full recovery could be impossible. - Telegraph

US close

Markets remained closed on Wall Street on Monday, as the country celebrated the Independence Day federal holiday.

They had closed in positive territory on Friday, when the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.44% at 34,785.35, as the S&P 500 added 0.75% to 4,352.34, and the Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.81% to 14,639.32.