Miners and big oil pace gains

Miners traded higher, boosted by calmer trading overnight on Asian bourses as some analysts expressed confidence that
any depreciation in the Chinese yuan would likely remain 'orderly'.

Weakness in the US dollar also pushed commodity prices broadly higher following recent losses in the space.

By the close of trading on the LME, three-month copper futures were in the green by 0.2% to $4,706.00 per metric tonne, alongside gains in similarly-dated futures contracts for lead and zinc of 2.3% and 2.5%, respectively.

That sent stock in the likes of Anglo American, BHP Billiton and Glencore to the top of the leaderboard.

Gold futures for next month delivery were gaining 0.82% to $1,275.20/oz., giving a boost to shares of Randgold (3.48%) and Fresnillo (1.99%).

The oil majors were also wanted after the release of an unexpectedly 'bearish' weekly oil inventory report Stateside.

Inventories of commercial crude oil Stateside dropped by 3.4m barrels to 540.0m over the five days ending on 6 May according to the Energy Information Administration, the statistical arm of the US Department of Energy.

Analysts had been expecting a build of approximately 750,000 barrels.

Front month Brent crude futures were higher by 3.885% to $47.36 per barrel as of 18:51 BST on the ICE.

Real estate stocks on the other hand dragged on the top flight index ahead of the Monetary Policy Committee’s meeting the next day.

Bank of England rate-setters were widely expected to stay put on policy.

However, over the previous weekend analysts at Bank of America-Merrill Lynch told clients they expected MPC member Gertjan Vlieghe to break ranks with his fellow policy-makers and vote for an immediate reduction in Bank Rate given what appeared to be a sharp slowdown in the economy running up to the 23 June Brexit referendum.

Barclays also thought Vlieghe was likely itching to vote for a cut but thought that was unlikely before that critical June vote.

Top performing sectors so far today
Forestry & Paper 14,530.56 +2.98%
Industrial Metals & Mining 1,144.42 +2.92%
Mining 9,077.57 +2.60%
Oil & Gas Producers 6,312.30 +1.01%
Oil Equipment, Services & Distribution 13,530.65 +0.84%

Bottom performing sectors so far today
Real Estate Investment Trusts 3,117.60 -1.61%
Gas, Water & Multiutilities 6,108.29 -0.98%
Fixed Line Telecommunications 4,990.28 -0.93%
Real Estate Investment & Services 2,639.12 -0.79%
Industrial Transportation 2,811.27 -0.73%