Sector movers: Cyclicals lead gains, alongside grocers

Cyclicals led to the upside with Oil Equipment and Food & Drug retailers sporting the biggest gains.

The former appeared to be benefiting from another leg higher in crude oil futures as the US dollar gave back some ground in the wake of the latest US central bank policy meeting minutes, which were released overnight.

Those showed some rather notable divisions among Fed rate-setters regarding just how urgent the need for another interest rate hike was.

In reaction to the above, the US dollar index fell back 0.58% to 94.16 while front month Brent crude oil futures tacked on a further 1.79% rise to $50.76.

To take note of, strategist Jochen Hitzfeld at UniCredit Research said crude oil prices would likely rise next year in the face of sustained demand growth from China and India and as the pace of output declines from existing fields worsened.

That fall in the greenback also contributed to gains across the rest of the commodity space, with gold futures for example advancing 0.66% to $1,357.70/oz. and three-month LME-traded zinc futures especially buoyant, rising by 1.6% to end the day at $2,301.00 per tonne.

Investors in Food & Drug retailers for their part were likely relieved to hear that retail sales volumes in the UK jumped sharply in July, gaining 1.4% month-on-month thus far outpacing the 0.1% gain the consensus had forecast.

Food store retailing put in a good showing for the month, increasing by 0.6% in comparison to June.

Arguably more important even, Asda reported that sales for the three months to 30 June fell 7.5%, its worst ever performance and a further slowing after a 5.7% fall in the previous quarter.

Parent company Wal-Mart on Thursday rowed the company back on mooted plans for fiercer cuts, saying the UK-focused Asda would stick to a previously stated five-year £1.5bn price investment plan, which tallied with fresh research that found the UK arm has actually raised average prices in recent weeks.

Top performing sectors so far today

Oil Equipment, Services & Distribution 15,326.59 +2.09%
Food & Drug Retailers 2,617.38 +2.02%
Industrial Engineering 9,664.45 +1.75%
Mining 12,225.56 +1.73%
Financial Services 9,345.09 +1.37%

Bottom performing sectors so far today
Industrial Metals & Mining 1,511.78 -11.22%
Tobacco 56,744.49 -2.10%
Fixed Line Telecommunications 4,487.52 -0.59%
Beverages 17,274.09 -0.33%
Personal Goods 31,167.91 -0.29%