Sector movers: Corporate results drag on Big Pharma as well as Construction and Materials

Pharmaceuticals paced losses on a down day for the stock market, alongside losses in Construction and Materials as well as Personal Goods.

Weakness in the first two of those sectors could be accounted for by the drag from GSK and CRH following the release of their latest results.

Wednesday's losses in shares of GSK was ascribed by City-based analysts to the pharma group's cautious guidance.

Going the other way, it was interest rate sensitive builders and telecommunications issues that helped to limit the fall in stocks.

Worth noting, the latest stress in regional US lender First Republic had seen Fed funds futures push back the date of a further 25 basis point interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve from its 2-3 May meeting to that on 14 June.

UK lenders' shares were in any case higher, helped by a well-received set of results out of Asia-focused StanChart.

Industrial Metals&Mining also headed higher.

Worth noting, on Wednesday, Chinese President Xi Jinping reportedly spoke with his Ukrainian counterpart for the first time since the start of the war.

Top performing sectors so far today

Household Goods & Home Construction 11,824.69 +3.66%

Telecommunications Service Providers 2,489.62 +2.54%

Industrial Metals & Mining 6,661.11 +1.70%

Leisure Goods 24,455.38 +1.29%

Banks 3,501.19 +1.28%

Bottom performing sectors so far today

Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology 21,939.19 -3.53%

Industrial Engineering 14,560.02 -3.10%

Construction & Materials 7,959.41 -2.84%

Aerospace and Defence 6,421.05 -1.82%

Personal Goods 36,462.63 -1.82%