WH Smith (SMWH.L) gains as much as 3% on positive trading update ahead of summer season

The retailer said it was well set for the peak summer holiday season as buoyant sales across its travel sites continue to offset slower trading at its high street arm.

WH Smith shares (SMWH.L) rose as much as 3% on Wednesday after the retailer delivered a positive trading update ahead of its summer season.

The group said it was well set for the peak summer holiday season as buoyant sales across its travel sites continue to offset slower trading at its high street arm.

WH Smith posted like-for-like sales growth of 4% for the 13 weeks to 1 June, with a 5% rise across global travel stores and a 1% drop for its high street business.

However, there was a slowdown from the 15% sales growth notched up in the first half across its travel shops based in railway stations, airports and hospitals worldwide.

The company opened five Toys R Us shops-within-shops and is on track to open another 25 by the end of August. WH Smith also expanded its food-to-go ranges, launching the new brand Smiths Family Kitchen at more than 300 sites.

In a statement, the group said: “The transformation of the business to a one-stop-shop for travel essentials is delivering strong results, increasing average transaction values and returns.”

Inditex shares (4ITX.TI) rose on Wednesday as the owner of clothing store Zara reported a pick-up in recent sales from its Spring/Summer collections, delivering quarterly results in line with expectations.

Sales grew 7% in the first quarter of its financial year, and rose 12% between 1 May and 3 June compared to the same time the year before.

The company, whose brands also include Pull&Bear and Massimo Dutti, added that it expected adverse currency moves to cut 2% from sales this year, up from previous guidance for a 1.5% hit.

It is currently fending off intense competition from rivals such as H&M by chasing and delivering fashion trends faster, as well as rapidly growing Chinese-owned online retailers Shein and Temu.

Oil prices (BZ=F) hovered near four-month lows on Wednesday before staging a recovery, as an expected supply boost later in the year when OPEC+ begins to unwind some output cuts outweighed concerns over slowing demand growth.

Brent crude futures were up 26 cents, or 0.3%, at $77.78 a barrel by 08:05 ET (12:05 GMT) while US West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose 24 cents, or 0.3%, to $73.49.

Both contracts fell more than 1% on Tuesday to their lowest settlement levels since early February, having declined by about $3 a barrel on Monday.

The planned increase in supply from the fourth quarter by OPEC+ comes despite recent signs of weakening demand growth.

“The abundant supply picture at present undoubtedly is generating queasiness even from those not in the perennial OPEC-sceptic camp,” said RBC Capital head of commodities research Helima Croft in a market note.

Bitcoin (BTC-USD) was in focus again on Wednesday after the cryptocurrency rose above the $71,000 level and flirted with a gain for a fifth straight session.

The move reflected greater confidence in global markets about the prospect of US Federal Reserve interest-rate reductions this year. It was also benefiting from high inflows into exchange-traded funds holding the token.

On Tuesday, spot Bitcoin ETFs received $886.6m in inflows, according to crypto data firm CoinGlass. This was the best day of inflows since March and the second-largest amount of inflows in a single day since the spot ETFs launched at the start of this year.

Traders are now pricing in a bigger chance of a Fed rate cut as soon as November in the wake of data signalling moderating US inflation and a softer jobs market.

Some Treasury yields registered their largest two-day drops of the year, a loosening in financial conditions that may help speculative assets like crypto.

“Crypto assets are responding positively to the decline in rates,” said Tom Couture, digital-asset strategy vice president at Fundstrat Global Advisors, in a note.