Supermarket stocks were sharply lower after new industry figures showed the grocery market grew at its slowest rate for 11 years.
The latest data from Kantar Worldpanel revealed that Tesco, Sainsbury's and Morrisons all lost market share over the last 12 weeks as competition from the discounters Aldi and Lidl intensified.
All three companies were lower in the FTSE 100 Index, which closed down 2.1 points at 6796.4 amid ongoing tensions in Ukraine.
The pound was just below 1.70 against the US dollar - its highest level for nearly five years as traders bet an improving economy will spur the Bank of England to increase interest rates sooner than it currently predicts.
In contrast, US Federal Reserve chairman Janet Yellen expects low borrowing rates will continue to be needed for a "considerable time".
She told Congress the US economy is improving but noted that the job market remains "far from satisfactory" and inflation is still below the Fed's target rate. Sterling held steady against the euro at 1.22. Market heavyweight HSBC contributed to the FTSE 100's decline after it reported a slide in first-quarter profits due to weaker earnings in Asia and from its investment banking division.
HSBC was 7.6p lower at 596.5p, while Barclays fell 1.7p to 243.3p and Lloyds Banking Group dropped 1.8p to 76.7p in a tough week for the banking sector.
Credit-checking firm Experian was the biggest faller in the top flight after forecasting subdued trading in the first half of the financial year due to headwinds such as the World Cup on business in Brazil. Shares fell 74p to 1060p.
Morrisons fell 11.2p to 190.8p and was joined on the fallers board by Sainsbury's after the rival chain surrendered an initial rise seen in the wake of annual profits at the top end of City expectations. Shares in Sainsbury's were up by nearly 2% at one stage but later closed 9.5p lower at 323.9p following the Kantar figures and expectations that the group will post lower profits in the current financial year.
Tesco shares were 1.8p lower at 286.1p.
Elsewhere, shares in ITV lifted 1.6p to 187.5p after it unveiled a deal to acquire a controlling stake in Pawn Stars-maker Leftfield Entertainment, which produces more than 300 hours of programming a year for more than 30 US networks.
Shares in low-cost airline easyJet were 43p higher at 1710p after it said it carried more than 5.78 million passengers last month - a 10.2% increase on the total for April last year.
The biggest FTSE 100 risers were G4S, up 9.9p at 250.2p, Legal & General, up 6.5p to 220p, easyJet, up 43p to 1710p and BAE Systems up 7.1p to 404.5p.
The biggest fallers were Experian, down 74p to 1060p, and Morrisons, down 11.2p to 190.8p.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article