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MARKET COMMENT
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Carburton Street, London – British Telecom's (LSE: BT.A) wireless operation, mmO2 (LSE: OOM), will start official trading on Monday. The telecom company received final court approval to demerge its wireless business and mmO2 will replace United Business Media (LSE: UBM) on the FTSE 100. Elsewhere in the market there is a distinct retail feel. Sainsbury (LSE: SBRY) has half time figures on Wednesday. The UK's second biggest supermarket has been busy refurbishing its stores and investing in targeted promotional activity. In an update on trading last month, Sainsbury said 36 stores had been refurbished and 3 stores had been extended. The company also revealed sales in the second quarter was 7.7% higher than last year and like-for-like sales was 6% better. On Thursday, Safeway (LSE: SFW) relates its half-time story. Like its rival Sainsbury, Safeway also pleased the market with its trading update last month and said like-for-like sales were 5.7% higher. The company has been focusing its resources on existing stores and limited new store opening to just two in the last 18 months. Safeway added its store reformatting programme was on track and has started to accelerate store investment. The brokers at Deutsche Bank have been cheered by the trading updates at both Safeway and Sainsbury and said the food industry is still buoyant. Kingfisher (LSE: KGF) flies in with third quarter numbers on Tuesday. The retailer no longer has an interest in general retailing and now operates predominantly as a focussed home improvement company. The strong housing market is expected to have benefited Kingfisher with its B&Q DIY centres continuing to drive performance. Earlier this week, Kingfisher said B&Q would create 4,000 new jobs and plans to expand the number of warehouse stores from 125 to 175 by 2006. EMI (LSE: EMI) has endured a torrid time as downloaded music from the Internet provided stiff competition for sales of its CDs. The entertainment company told investors in September that the music market had deteriorated markedly and its recorded music business was experiencing difficulty. However, EMI's publishing division has remained resilient and the company said this division would be able to generate a first half trading profit. EMI will be delivering interim numbers on Monday. Analysts have been busy taking their red pens to media companies forecasts and GWR (LSE: GWG) has been no exception. Earnings forecasts were slashed after a disappointing trading update at the end of September. But the market chose to ignore the analysts' comments and shares in the company have moved up smartly, almost doubling in value since that update. GWR reports on Tuesday. There are also numbers during the week from the ladies fashion retailer New Look (LSE: NEW) and the music company Chrysalis Group (LSE: CHS).