Tesco leads retailers higher on rising FTSE News of Tesco's potential exit from US markets and steady full-year profit guidance despite falling third-quarter like-for-like sales took it to the top of a rising FTSE 100 on Wednesday. The UK's biggest grocer by market value and market share rose 3.7 per cent to 338.2p in opening trade, after it announced the strategic review of its Fresh & Easy business. Philip Clark, the group's chief executive, conceded it was "likely that the review will lead to Tesco exiting the US market." Such a move would end its presence there, established in 2006 when the chain opened in California. Tesco also revealed its like-for-like sales in the third quarter fell 0.6 per cent, but left its profit guidance for the full year alone, saying it was "looking forward to the important seasonal period ahead," a reference to Christmas. "From a share price perspective even if Tesco does have a relatively good Christmas, there will still be no visibility on whether UK profits have bottomed until the second half of 2013," warned Kate Calvert, analyst at Seymour Pierce. "We reiterate our "reduce" recommendation [on the stock] as we believe there is a high risk that things will get worse before they get better. The shares may not be the most expensive, trading on a price/earnings ratio of 9.9 times and yielding 4.7 per cent. However, we see much more interesting investment opportunities elsewhere in the non-food sector. Wider retailers traded higher, with non-food chains outperforming grocers. J Sainsbury , one of Tesco's main UK rivals, was 0.4 per cent higher at 338p. Wm Morrison rose 0.3 per cent to 265.1p. Home Retail Group , owner of the Argos catalogue outlets and the Homebase chain, topped the FTSE 250, up 4.4 per cent at 118.3p. It was helped by a broker upgrade from Bank of America Merrill Lynch, which raised its stance on the stock from "neutral" to "buy" and lifted its price target from 110p to 130p. The broker praised what it called the group's improved e-commerce operation, saying: "Argos is now responding with an improved website, "1-click" check and reserve and an improved in-store experience for customers." It added: "We see Argos as a beneficiary of recent capacity withdrawal in the electricals area and also as we think grocers will now be more focused on improving their performance in food." JD Sports was in second place, rising 4.2 per cent to 724.5p. Overall, London's second tier index, seen as more representative of the domestic UK economy, was 0.5 per cent higher at 12,113.42. Traders were waiting for the Autumn Statement on the UK's public finances from the chancellor, George Osborne. He was expected to extend the government's austerity measures to 2018 in the context of weaker economic growth and a larger deficit. Much of the rest of the FTSE 100 leaderboard remained made up of resource stocks more influenced by global trends than domestic matters. A signal of more government action from Beijing to support the Chinese economy sent stock indices there sharply higher and lifted the London-listed miners which depend on growth in China to drive demand for metals. Vedanta Resources was 3.6 per cent higher at £11.05 and in second place on the main index. The remaining eight stocks on the list of the top 10 biggest gainers came from the sector, as the news lifted the mood across global markets.