Sector Review
Sector movers: GKN lifts auto parts, dollar and China hit miners
GKN led the automobiles & parts sector on Wednesday as the war of word with unwanted suitor Melrose Industries continued.
Sector movers: Media rumbles as Sky bid skirmish expected
The media sector was the highest riser on Tuesday, led by a 20% rise for Sky's shares as US cable network Comcast tabled a rival bid to that agreed with 21st Century Fox.
Sector movers: Industrial metals rise on steel reinforcement
Rising metals prices gave a leg-up up to stocks including Ferrexpo among the risers and saw Evraz hit an intraday 52-week high before tailing off. Miners were generally on the up as the decline in the dollar helped drive a rise in metals prices.
Sector movers: Oil equipment and service names lead gains
The US Department of Energy's inventory figures for the week ending 16 February showed oil inventories in the States declined by 1. 6m barrels a day as net imports (exports minus imports) shrank by roughly 1. 59m b/d, pushing net imports below the 5. 0m barrel a day mark for the first time since 1992, alongside flat domestic production.
Sector movers: Miners, Media, Banks all higher
Cyclicals were clearly in demand on Thursday, with Industrial Metals&Mining and Mining towards the top of the leaderboard as the US dollar gave back some of its recent ill-gotten gains and the start of the Lunar New Year holidays saw some Asian sellers come out of base metals markets for a time.
Sector movers: Industrial metals, miners top gains
Industrial metals topped the leaderboard, alongside a solid performance from most mining names.
Sector movers: Loose talk sinks ships
Like the day before, it was some of the more defensive issues in the market that bore the brunt of selling despite the rout in equities worldwide, with recent slight shifts in expectations for policy tightening by the Federal Reserve in 2018 apparently triggering a sharp rise in stockmarket volatility as government bonds markets in the US, and elsewhere, came under pressure.
Sector movers: Bouncy AstraZeneca helps lift pharma stocks, BT sinks fixed-line sector
AstraZeneca led the pharmaceuticals sector higher on a choppy day for the stock, as investors weighed up news of a US legal dispute with Array BioPharma against its full-year results.
Sector movers: Royal Mail delivers for industrial transportation, Vodafone drags mobile telecoms
Royal Mail was leading the industrial transportation sector higher, after it reached agreement with the Communications Workers Union regarding the company's ten-month-long dispute with the trade body over plans to replace its defined benefit pension scheme.