Shares in UK retailers fall as investors digest Rachel Reeves’s changes to NICs and tax thresholds

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Asda has warned that measures in the government’s budget will be a “big burden” for the supermarket chain, costing it £100m, and could prevent it from raising wages or hiring as many staff, as it struggles to turn around falling sales.

The company’s warning on Friday came as other UK retailers’ share prices took a hit as stock market investors continue to digest the implications of the changes to employers’ national insurance contributions (NICs) announced in the Labour chancellor Rachel Reeves’s first budget.