LONDON MARKETS: FTSE 100 Sets Sights On New Record As Burberry, Next Rise

By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Stocks in the U.K. rose Wednesday, with gains for apparel retailers Next PLC and Burberry PLC helping to pull the FTSE 100 above a record high.

The FTSE 100 rose 0.3% to 7,092.11, above a record close of 7,089.77 that it notched on April 10.

Leading advancers was Next , with shares rising 2.6% after J.P. Morgan Cazenove ratings its rating on the fashion retailer to overweight from neutral. It said it sees scope for Next to recover some of its recent underperformance between now and its interim update on April 29.

Burberry PLC shares picked up 1% following its report of 9% growth in same-store sales (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/burberry-reports-strong-rise-in-same-store-sales-2015-04-15) for the second half. But the high-fashion retailer also reported low-single-digit sales growth in Asia Pacific, "with further deceleration in Hong Kong."

Shares of Fresnillo PLC rose 1.8% after the precious metals miner posted growth of nearly 19% in silver production, and a 62% increase in gold output for the first quarter. It also said it's still on track to boost output this year (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/fresnillo-reports-rise-in-silver-gold-output-2015-04-15).

But decliners included Bunzl PLC , with shares down 1.2%. The company, which distributes business supplies, said it has agreed to purchase a business in Turkey (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/bunzl-to-make-more-acquisitions-trading-in-line-2015-04-15) and has completed acquisitions in Canada and the Netherlands.

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