Sector movers: Aerospace, Homebuilders pace gains

Cyclical areas of the market including Autos and Parts or Media were among the worst performing areas of the stock market.

Data released in the States on Wednesday revealed a dip in consumer price inflation to a two-year low in April.

Headline CPI slowed to 4.9% year-on-year from 5.0% in March and to 5.5% from 5.6% at the core level.

That weighed on longer-term Gilt yields, to the benefit of UK homebuilders and Electricity stocks.

But economists remained divided on whether a further substantial slowdown in inflation would materialise that might allow the Fed to cut interest rates.

Aerospace and Defence issues also advanced, topping the leaderboard on the back of gains for Rolls Royce ahead of the engineer's quarterly update due out on the following day.

Top performing sectors so far today

Aerospace and Defence 6,498.04 +1.41%

Retailers 3,668.17 +1.26%

Household Goods & Home Construction 11,900.22 +1.06%

Electricity 11,361.44 +0.83%

Chemicals 11,557.01 +0.80%

Bottom performing sectors so far today

Personal Care, Drug and Grocery Stores 4,405.76 -1.65%

Tobacco 30,476.06 -1.62%

Beverages 27,799.27 -1.19%

Automobiles & Parts 1,653.98 -0.92%

Media 9,581.03 -0.89%