FTSE 100: Large-caps firm as banks advance "Investors will have to wait until Thursday for a more concrete gauge of sentiment, when Spain sells longer-term bonds and France also conducts an auction ahead of the first round of its presidential election," said Chris Beauchamp, market analyst at IG Index. A retreat from Burberry and Marks & Spencer tempered the benchmark index's gains. Despite the fashion house posting an 18pc jump in second-half revenue, Burberry sank 5.5pc. Freddie George, analyst at Seymour Pierce, kept his "buy" rating, but said the stock "might bide time after its recent out-performance." A disappointing 0.7pc fall in fourth-quarter like-for-like sales at Marks & Spencer sent the high street stalwart down 2.9pc. Sales of general merchandise, including clothing, fell 2.8pc with M&S saying that it had been short of stock in a number of best-selling lines. "We suspect that tight stock control has had the effect of limiting sales of the best selling lines and as a result sales are weaker than expected," said analysts at Oriel. However, as a result we suspect that gross margins have performed better and when combined with tight cost control (we suspect year on year growth is nearer 1%), this means that M&S is on track to hit 33p of earnings for the year to March 2012.