HINTS that the European Union’s proposed reform of the sugar regime may go further than previously thought gave Tate & Lyle the best performance in a faltering FTSE 100.

The final version of the European Commission’s shake-up proposal has been awaited for months, having been delayed by its appeal against a world trade panel ruling that deemed much of the continent’s sugar exports as illegal.

But Mariann Fischer Boel, the European Agriculture Commissioner, was seen to give an insight into current thinking in a speech to the European Parliament in Strasbourg yesterday. She said that “ambitious reform” is needed, claiming that the less thorough the EU is now, the more likely it is that it will have to make further reforms in the near future.

On that front, she described previously proposed hefty cuts to national production quotas and support prices as a “necessary minimum”.

Analysts suggested that the hard line could be positive for Tate & Lyle, leaving the sugar refiner and sweeteners maker up 17¾p at 534¾p. That performance ran counter to the wider market, which was pulled lower by the selling of miners and oil producers. The latter sector came under pressure as ExxonMobil cautioned shareholders that high oil prices did not mean its figures would be anything other than “boringly consistent”.

Dealers also said oil majors were still feeling the after-effects from last week’s placing by Merrill Lynch of Exxon’s $1.4 billion stake in Sinopec, China’s largest refiner and petrochemical producer. BP gave up 12½p to 557p, with Shell down 10¼p at 488¾p and BG Group 5¼p lighter at 409¼p. The FTSE 100 closed 34.0 behind at 4,962.1.

Tesco put on 5¾p at 314½p as market share data from Taylor Nelson Sofres for the four weeks to February 27 showed the food retailer’s sales growing at nearly four times the industry average. The same survey also helped J Sainsbury up 3¼p at 293½p, after it emerged with an implied three-month growth rate of 2.4 per cent, against 1.5 per cent in the previous period.

Diageo firmed 5p at 745½p as further US data showed the Johnnie Walker and Smirnoff spirits group gaining market share. Those numbers prompted Credit Suisse First Boston to repeat its “outperform” rating and 830p target.

Kingfisher improved ¾p at 292p, despite caution from JP Morgan ahead of the DIY retailer’s full-year results on March 17. Philip Mitchell, analyst, thinks an early Easter may combine with a weakening of UK consumer spending to produce a slowdown in like-for-like sales in the all-important first-quarter trading period.

• NEW YORK: A sharp drop in oil prices helped to lift the Dow Jones industrial average, which closed up 45.89 points at 10,851.51.

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