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Morrisons (MRW) has avoided an embarrassing ejection from the FTSE 100 after two days of strong share price rises was enough to keep it in the prestigious index.

In a welcome boost ahead of its AGM this morning, last night it was confirmed that Morrisons market cap of £4.16bn was enough to extend its 16-year run in the FTSE 100.

Morrisons shares were up another 3.25% yesterday to 178.1p ahead of the FTSE 100 reclassification, taking it above mobile power company Aggreko, which will instead drop out of the index to be replaced by satellite firm Inmarsat.

The supermarket is up 5.1% since Kantar Worldpanel data suggested it saw its first 12-week sales rise since 2013.

The shares fell as low as 150.6p in October, but had recovered to 214.8p by early March.

Morning update

The major event today is Morrisons’ AGM which kicks off at 11am in Bradford this morning. Last year was a stormy affair, with founder Ken Morrison launching a broadside against then-CEO Dalton Philips – this year is likely to be slightly less stormy, though investors are set to make their displeasure over the terms of Philips departure clear. New CEO David Potts will also talk in public on his future vision for the supermarket for one of the first times since he joined in March.

Elsewhere, AIM-listed spirits group Distil has announced its full year results for the year ending 31 March. Turnover plunged to £666k from £2.4m last year as the group moved from 3rd Party brand distribution in the UK to focus solely on domestic and international sales of its owned brands. Sales of owned brands, including Blackwoods Gin and Vodka, RedLeg Spiced Rum and Blavod Black Vodka, were down by 9%.

Don Goulding, Executive Chairman of Distil, said: “We have now completed the transition from being a third party brand distributor to a brand owning, brand focused business. Despite delays in the early part of the year we made solid progress in the second half with developments in the USA and continued growth in the UK. New listings for our brands in many leading bars and pubs together with one of the biggest UK multiple retailers have increased consumer awareness and trial of our products.”

The FTSE 100 has opened 0.8% lower at 6,896.4pts as a deal Greece and its creditors continue to struggle to reach a deal after meetings last night.

Most grocery stocks have opened slightly down, with Unilever (ULVR) down 1.2% to 2,853p and Tesco (TSCO) down 0.8% to 208.6 amongst those most affected.

Yesterday in the City

While Morrisons late share price rally was keeping it in the FTSE 100, the other supermarkets were also enjoying a good day.

Boosted by data from the BRC/Nielsen suggesting the deflationary picture was stabilising, Sainsbury’s was up 1.9% to 249.8p and Tesco rose 1.4% to 210.4p.

It was a good day generally for grocery and fmcg stocks, with Unilever up 1.9% to 2,888p, Imperial Tobacco (IMT) up 1.6% to 3,262p and Associated British Foods (ABF) up 1.2% to 2,983p.

The FTSE 100 was up 0.3% to 6,950.5pts on hopes a deal could be reached over Greece’s debt repayment.

Outside the FTSE 100, WH Smith (SMWH) received a big boost after reported a 1% rise in third quarter sales – the first group-wide sales increase for six years. The firm ended the day 3.3% up to 1,589.3p.

Elsewhere there were strong share price rises for Premier Foods (PFD), 8.2% up to 43p, Ocado (OCDO), 4.6% up to 371.3p and Finsbury Food Group (FIF), 4% up to 92p.

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