Sector movers: Defensives and consumer staples lead gains

Defensives and consumer staples paced gains at the start of the week, continuing with the trend which had been in place in recent weeks and months.

Mobile Telecomunications was one of the best performers with shares of Vodafone rising on the back of a positive endorsement in the latest weekly edition of Barron's.

The US financial weekly said "better times lay ahead" for the outfit after the "big" writedown to the value of its Indian unit, calling attention to the company's shareholder-friendly policies, ample free cash flows and 5.73% dividend yield.

The latter, Barron's pointed out, was well ahead of that for its major European rivals.

On a related note, strategists at JP Morgan on Monday reaffirmed their 'overweight' stance towards euro area telecoms.

Electricity stocks were also wanted, with analysts Credit Suisse sounding a positive note on SSE.

For analysts at the Swiss broker, government price intervention that materially reduces energy suppliers EBIT margins is "unlikely".

Personal goods stocks were also near the top of the leaderboard on the back of positive comments from multiple brokers for luxury fashion maker Burberry's.

Analysts at Credit Suisse revised their target on Burberry from 1,550.0 to 1,650.0p, while those at Barclays reaffirmed their 'overweight' recommendation and 1,900.0 target price on the stock.

To take note of for domestic-focused UK stocks, including Sainsbury, Barclays sounded an upbeat note on the outlook for consumer spending in Britain, saying investors had been too pessimistic, pricing-in a recession like drop.

Top performing sectors so far today
Mobile Telecommunications 5,061.00 +1.89%
Industrial Metals & Mining 2,155.33 +1.75%
Electricity 9,008.52 +1.28%
Fixed Line Telecommunications 3,639.12 +1.27%
Food & Drug Retailers 3,048.06 +1.22%

Bottom performing sectors so far today
Software & Computer Services 2,092.80 -1.04%
Automobiles & Parts 8,213.63 -0.62%
Oil Equipment, Services & Distribution 14,962.69 -0.46%
Forestry & Paper 21,251.89 -0.35%
General Industrials 5,871.49 -0.26%