Ukraine has weighed on the market heavily recently. On Friday the FTSE 100 (FTSEINDICES: ^FTSE) closed at 6,528, which was a giant 185-point dip on the beginning of the week, and the worst weekly fall since June last year.
It wasn’t just Ukraine, with poor data from China impacting mining stocks and emerging market shares.
But there’s data from China all the time while what’s next for Ukraine is wholly uncertain. I was watching an interview with Warren Buffett the other day, and his view was that events in Ukraine shouldn’t change how you invest:
“If you’ve got an apartment house that’s fully occupied, why in the world would you sell it because of what’s happening in Ukraine? The same applies if you have a piece of a wonderful business or a piece of many wonderful businesses. People react too much to short term things in the stock market.”
This, of course, ties in to his famous mantra of being greedy when others are fearful. So, what were some leading shares you could’ve picked up for cheap last week?
Morrisons
All the supermarkets were trading at a discount last week after Morrisons (LSE: MRW) released its final results for 2013. The grocer slumped to a pre-tax loss of £176m after a profit of £879m a year earlier.
Shares in Morrisons fell 8% on the news and a number of measures were put forward by the chain to turn things around. One was the sale of £1bn of freehold property. Another step — most significant for the wider grocery sector — was a commitment to cutting prices.
Sainsbury’s
Sainsbury’s (LSE: SBRY) will post a trading statement tomorrow that should give us some clues as to the state of operations Mike Coupe, the incoming chief executive, will inherit.
When the present boss Justin King announced his decision to step down, he commented: “I don’t believe today, or six months’ time when I depart, will represent the top for Sainsbury’s. It will go on to further heights.”
That remains to be seen, and with the lowest margins in the sector, Sainsbury’s may end up hardest hit by the looming price war.
Shares in Sainsbury’s fell 7% last week.
Tesco
In the latest figures from researcher Kantar Worldpanel Tesco’s (LSE: TSCO) (NASDAQOTH: TSCDY.US) market share fell to 28.7% in the 12 weeks to 2 March. Before last year Tesco’s market share hadn’t been below 30% in the preceding seven years.
The discounters, Aldi and Lidl, continue to pick the pockets of the big four, with sales growth of 34% and 17% respectively in the same period.
This can’t be ignored, and unlike Sainsbury’s, in an ensuing price war Tesco has the margins to fight fire with fire.
Shares in Tesco fell 6% last week.
