Sector movers: Automobile stocks boosted by US sales figures, weak euro

Cyclical sectors such as chemicals and automobiles led gainers, alongside a bounce for food&drug retailers and fixed line telecommunications stocks.

Shares in Johnson Matthey were the main culprit behind gains in the former, after the chemicals and sustainable technology group expressed confidence in its long-term performance. Victrex also rose, on the heels of supportive comments out of UBS.

Automobiles stocks on the other hand were benefitting from figures released Stateside during the previous session revealing that US sales of lightweight vehicles reached an annualised pace of 17.37mn units in May, a touch above a forecast from analysts at Barclays for a rise of 17.3m.

Some market commentary also referenced the tailwind for the European auto sector from a weaker single currency.

The DJ Stoxx 600 Auto&Parts sub-index strengthened 1.11% or 5.38 points to 488.87 on the back of those numbers.

Monthly data from Nielsen continued to point to a steady erosion of the Big Four grocers´ market share, analysts at ShoreCap said.

However, those figures from Nielsen also revealed that two out of the four weeks up to 21 May had been positive at an industry level, the broker said.

"Could the industry be moving to positive volumes and values? We should say at the start, well done to Marks & Spencer^ ('M&S'), which looks like it's had a great 12-weeks (12W) in its Food Halls," analyst Clive Black said in a research note sent to clients.

Shares in Marks&Spencer were nevertheless the second-worst performer on the Footsie on Thursday, as the company went ex-dividend.

National Grid sank to the bottom of the pile for that same reason.

Insurance and financials were lower as the US government interest rate curve flattened ahead of Friday´s release of the May jobs report.

"Cyclicals stand to gain the most from higher yields – all but 2 sectors are positively correlated to rising US yields. In particular, Insurance, Autos and Tech are the best performers in rising yields. European Banks' relative performance has also tracked the level of US yields in the last few years. Defensives are all negatively correlated," UBS strategist said in a research report sent to clients on 2 June.

Top performing sectors so far today
Chemicals 11,018.79 +2.97%
Automobiles & Parts 6,598.02 +2.17%
Food & Drug Retailers 2,746.82 +1.08%
Aerospace and Defence 4,017.01 +0.63%
Fixed Line Telecommunications 4,933.93 +0.52%

Bottom performing sectors so far today
Industrial Metals & Mining 1,080.40 -3.18%
Gas, Water & Multiutilities 5,957.32 -2.94%
Real Estate Investment & Services 2,704.62 -0.67%
Insurance (non-life) 2,548.61 -0.60%
Financial Services 8,823.06 -0.47%