Sector movers: Oil slips, miners mixed
Oil companies, tobacco and banks marched London's benchmarks lower on Monday, while real estate had a buoyant day and miners were notably mixed.
Oil producers and support services companies slipped on the back of crude oil prices coming under pressure, with Brent down 2.5% to $60.10 per barrel and WTI down 3.2% to $51.97.
This was attributed to lower Chinese industrial profits figures and data from the end of last week that showed a growing number of US oil rigs for the first time this year, indicating that output may increase.
After US crude oil production rose to a record 11.9m barrels per day in the last quarter of 2018, market analyst Dean Popplewell at Oanda said "there is evidence that U.S production rates will increase further, especially when you see data from Baker-Hughes showing that US energy firms raised the number of rigs looking for new oil for the first time this year to +862 – an addition of 10 rigs".
He added: "A global economic slowdown supported by a persistent weakness in Chinese data and egged on by a trade dispute between US and China is also weighing on fuel demand-growth expectations."
Tobacco stocks were down with little news about. A US doctor report was featured on CBS, but was the sort of news that normally sends cigarette makers higher. The American Academy of Pediatrics called for new federal regulations in an effort to discourage children and teens from using e-cigarettes. They propose setting a minimum age of 21 to buy the products and banning online sales and youth-targeted marketing. German sales data was reported by FTAlphaville, with German sales down 1.1% for December and down 3.8% by volume.
The FTSE 350 banking sector was down 1.5%.
Miners were mixed as some stocks were lifted by the spike in iron ore prices after the deadly Vale dam collapse in Brazil, but other basic metals underperformed after the sanctions were lifted on Russia's aluminium giant Rusal.
On Friday, a decommissioned tailings dam at the Feijao mining complex in Brumadinho, Minas Gerais, burst with apparently little warning. Mud swept through the mine’s busy cafeteria as well as mine offices and nearby buildings. So far 58 people have been confirmed dead with hundreds still missing.
In Dalian, China, iron ore futures rose 6% following the disaster, noted analysts at SP Angel, while London-listed miners saw their share prices jump. The likes of BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto were both ahead a little over 1%. Anglo American was flat after a strong morning's trading.
In fact the US Treasury Department lifted curbs on three companies connected to oligarch Oleg Deripaska – Rusal, En+ and JSC EuroSibEnergy – on Sunday after Deripaska ceded control. As a consequence of the curbs being lifted and the terms agreed, it was announced that Glencore would transfer an 8.75% stake in Rusal to controlling shareholder En+ for 10.55% of enlarged share capital of En+.
The sanctions had effectively cut off Rusal – the world’s second largest aluminium producer – from the global market. Its shares, which are listed in Hong Kong. After the lifting of the sanctions over the weekend, aluminium prices lost as much as 1.4% on Monday on the London Metal Exchange.
Top performing sectors so far today
Technology Hardware & Equipment +3.36%
Industrial Metals & Mining +1.01%
Real Estate Investment & Services +0.66%
Real Estate Investment Trusts +0.61%
Leisure Goods +0.52%
Bottom performing sectors so far today
Oil Equipment, Services & Distribution -1.93%
Tobacco -1.81%
Oil & Gas Producers -1.65%
Banks -1.47%
Personal Goods 33,959.82 -1.19%
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 6,741.76 -0.99%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 18,541.92 -0.55%
techMARK (TASX) 3,314.83 -0.38%
FTSE 100 - Risers
Ocado Group (OCDO) 970.60p 2.56%
Coca-Cola HBC AG (CDI) (CCH) 2,528.00p 1.57%
Spirax-Sarco Engineering (SPX) 6,330.00p 1.44%
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 4,306.00p 1.14%
Carnival (CCL) 4,142.00p 1.00%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 3,916.00p 0.98%
Land Securities Group (LAND) 860.20p 0.77%
Paddy Power Betfair (PPB) 6,065.00p 0.66%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 291.80p 0.62%
Centrica (CNA) 135.85p 0.59%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Antofagasta (ANTO) 799.60p -3.34%
NMC Health (NMC) 2,586.00p -3.00%
Barclays (BARC) 159.18p -3.00%
Imperial Brands (IMB) 2,352.50p -2.79%
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 57.03p -2.63%
ITV (ITV) 128.57p -2.60%
Glencore (GLEN) 290.05p -2.50%
Melrose Industries (MRO) 159.85p -2.44%
GVC Holdings (GVC) 637.00p -2.38%
Micro Focus International (MCRO) 1,458.00p -2.34%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 210.20p 4.84%
TI Fluid Systems (TIFS) 167.80p 4.22%
Spirent Communications (SPT) 147.80p 3.36%
Restaurant Group (RTN) 148.80p 3.33%
Dixons Carphone (DC.) 146.15p 2.78%
Capital & Counties Properties (CAPC) 245.10p 2.17%
Euromoney Institutional Investor (ERM) 1,264.00p 1.94%
Fisher (James) & Sons (FSJ) 1,904.00p 1.82%
Derwent London (DLN) 3,126.00p 1.72%
Amigo Holdings (AMGO) 253.25p 1.71%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
CYBG (CYBG) 185.30p -5.12%
Capita (CPI) 112.20p -3.81%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 189.85p -3.60%
Elementis (ELM) 177.62p -3.57%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 167.00p -3.30%
Mediclinic International (MDC) 309.50p -3.16%
Premier Oil (PMO) 68.45p -3.05%
Ibstock (IBST) 235.60p -3.05%
Countryside Properties (CSP) 308.00p -2.78%
JPMorgan Indian Investment Trust (JII) 645.00p -2.71%