BUZZ-UK grocers: squeezed higher amid bullish broker notes
(updates to add details from analysts)
** Bullish brokers help lift UK grocers to top of FTSE 100 with UBS (NYSEArca: FBGX - news) reckoning the point of peak disruption from the discounters is now past
** UK's Big Four grocers (including Wal-Mart's Asda ) have been battling over mid-tier market which has been squeezed by Aldi & Lidl at the bottom & Waitrose & Marks & Spencer (Other OTC: MAKSF - news) at the top
** Morrisons & Sainsbury's, the two most heavily borrowed stocks on FTSE 100, top risers on the index with respective gains of 3% & 2.6%; Tesco (Xetra: 852647 - news) 1.1% higher
** SocGen (Paris: FR0000130809 - news) , whilst upgrading SBRY to "buy", suggests purchasing partnership between SBRY/MRW would make sense
** Sentiment in sector at large boosted by Ahold/Delhaize merger deal
** Analysts struggle to see the read-across to the UK grocers, envisaging major complications with regulators over a SBRY/MRW combination given their market shares (RM (LSE: RM.L - news) : tricia.wright1.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)