Ocado slide weighs on FTSE 100

(Reuters) - UK's blue-chip FTSE 100 edged lower as Ocado sank on grim Christmas sales at its online supermarket venture, while data showing rising pay growth fuelled fears about the Bank of England keeping monetary policy tight.

The blue-chip FTSE 100 fell 0.1%, while the domestically-oriented FTSE 250 shed 0.3%.

Shares of retailer Ocado Group tumbled 7.0% after its online supermarket joint venture with Marks & Spencer, Ocado Retail, said customers purchased fewer items per order in the run-up to Christmas.

This saw the personal care, drug and grocery index lose 1.0%, making it the worst performing index.

Meanwhile, data showed pay, including bonuses, saw its biggest increase since 2001 in the UK, excluding jumps during the pandemic, raising worries that the central bank may find it harder to bring down double-digit inflation.

Online retail platform THG fell 7.2% after it said revenue rose 3.3% in 2022, far short of the 10-15% it had forecast in October.

(Reporting by Johann M Cherian in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)