J Sainsbury plc, Aviva plc and The Restaurant Group PLC all fall on what looks like good news.
The FTSE 100 (UKX) is remaining pretty bullish in its start to the year, having put on 43 points to reach 6,096 at the time of writing -- setting yet another new 52-week high. If it carries on like this, we'll all be rich by Easter.
But even with a strong overall market, there are always some individual shares falling. We look at three companies whose prices are falling, despite apparently good news:
Sainsbury
Shares in J Sainsbury (LSE: SBRY) (NASDAQOTH: JSAIY.US) dipped today, losing 7.9p (2.3%) to 331p, despite releasing a glowing Christmas trading statement. For the quarter to 5 January, total sales were up 3.9% with like-for-like sales up 1.5%, after what the company called a "record-breaking Christmas". But the share price had blipped up in anticipation, before falling back slightly on the actual news.
All eyes are now on Tesco, which is due to release its Christmas statement tomorrow -- and its share price has also risen in anticipation, after a positive third-quarter update at the beginning of December.
Aviva
Aviva (LSE: AV) shares dropped 9.3p (2.4%) to 373p today, after the insurance giant announced the pricing of its Delta Lloyd offering. Aviva, which earlier announced it was to sell its entire stake in Delta Lloyd, has reached a deal to offload its 34 million shares (around 19% of the total) at a price of €12.65 each. This will net Aviva some £353 million.
The price, which represented a 1.6% discount to the closing price, looks pretty good for such a large sale, and it's perhaps surprising that Aviva's share price fell as a result.
Restaurant Group
Although it told us its full-year performance is going to be "just ahead of the consensus of market forecasts", Restaurant Group (LSE: RTN) saw its share fall by 8.4p (2.2%) to 374p. Turnover is 9% up on the previous year, with like-for-like sales improving by 4.5%. The firm opened 28 new restaurants during the year, and has plans for a further 28-35 in 2013.
Full results are expected by early March.
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If you want to see how Mr Woodford manages to beat the market, the free Motley Fool report "8 Shares Held By Britain's Super Investor" takes a look at some of his key holdings. To get your copy, click here while it’s still available.
> Alan does not own any shares mentioned in this article. The Motley Fool owns shares in Tesco.
