BEST AND WORST PERFORMING SECTORS

The best performing sector in the UK stock market last week was household goods, which rose 3.52 per cent. Reckitt & Colman rose 3.6 per cent after a broker recommended purchases. He reported that the shares were cheap compared with other European branded consumer goods companies such as Nestle and Unilever. Unilever itself rose by 5.1 per cent after the company expressed interest in making a major acquisition, possibly in the United States.

THE WORST performing sector was insurance. General Accident fell 4.0 per cent on the week, Royal Sun Alliance fell 3.3 per cent and Commercial Union dropped 2.6 per cent as brokers downgraded their recommendations ahead of annual results. These are expected to show that 1996 profits have been hurt by the strong pound. Copyright: IOS & Bloomberg