As the FTSE 100 index tumbled more than 100 points, recent falls in the US markets put the jitters among investors. Kingfisher, Home Retail Group, DSGi and Sainsbury's are all significant risers.
The rises followed a trading statement from HRG this morning that end-of-year results were ahead of market expectations, helped particularly by sales at Argos - a key competitor to DSGi.
Kingfisher's share price may have been influenced by an improvement in like-for-like sales growth at Argos' sister business Homebase - a B&Q competitor.
The press reported takeover speculation surrounding both Kingfisher and HRG, while Sainsbury's was reported to have met with a potential bid consortium on Monday.
At the time of writing, Kingfisher had risen 2.1 per cent on the day, Sainsbury's was up 1.82 per cent, DSGi was up 1.96 per cent and Home Retail Group was up 1.01 per cent.
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