NEW bout of encouraging economic news could do nothing to prevent a modest sell off in both London and New York yesterday.

Both markets took their cues from another nervous trading session in bond markets across the globe and were additionally unsettled by growing unease over the forthcoming Russian presidential election. Dealers in London stocks said they had made every effort to reduce their trading books ahead of the weekend with one eye on the news from Russia and the other on the next set of economic news from the US, industrial and manufacturing production for May, due today.

Consumer stocks were well to the fore yesterday, responding to the recent British Retail Consortium survey, which reported a 6.2 per cent increase in high street sales in May.

A number of powerful broking houses gave a push to Asda, projecting the stock to the top of both the FTSE 100 performance and turnover tables, while there were good gains too in Marks & Spencer, Granada and Boots.