Associated British Foods gains as Primark sales jump and Gap withdraws from U.K. and Ireland

“Primark, one of the big fashion chains left standing, is likely to clean up from Gap’s exodus, attracting browsing shoppers whose options are dwindling. It is still turning heads on the high street, while one by one other fashion retailers fall by the wayside,” said Susannah Streeter, senior investment and markets analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.

The U.K. travel sector saw gains after recent declines. The U.K. government is planning to roll out booster shots in the autumn, as the country tries to combat the delta variant of coronavirus that has led to an upturn in cases. British Airways owner International Airlines Group IAG, +4.83% rose 3%, as did easyJet EZJ, +4.00%.

Micro Focus International MCRO, -6.84% slumped 7%, after the software and information technology company suggested it will have to continue spending to stabilize revenue. It narrowed its first-half loss to $219 million from $1.03 billion, with revenue from continuing operations easing 2% to $1.43 billion. The company had already guided toward an improved first-half performance and said its focus is stabilizing revenue by the end of fiscal 2023. “To deliver against this goal, we are targeting incremental improvements in revenue trajectory annually and continuing our targeted investment in product portfolios to achieve this,” the company said.

The broader FTSE 100 UKX, +0.94% rose 0.8% to start the third quarter, after rising 9% in the first half of the year.