Sector movers: Defensives pace gains

Defensives led gains on a down day for the FTSE 350.

AstraZeneca spearheaded gains in Big Pharma while in the Gas, Water and Multiutilities space Centrica did best on the back of a surge in natural gas prices.

In the background, TTF natural gas futures shot 37.39% higher to 214 euros per megawatt hour as Russia's Gazprom reduced natural gas supplies to Germany further alleging the need for maintenance and blaming sanctions for the disruption, although most observers saw it as a pretext to raise the political temperature on European leaders.

Telecommunications service providers paced losses, led by a fall in shares of Vodafone as investors reacted to the company's first quarter trading update released the day before.

For analysts at Deutsche Bank, which had a 'buy' recommendation on the shares, the update was in line with market expectations.

Analysts at JP Morgan on the other hand trimmed their target price on the shares from 168.0p to 165.0p, but kept their recommendation at neutral.

Those at Barclays meanwhile, which were at 'equalweight', said they expected a modest negative reaction in the shares, further pointing out that growth in the outfit's European service revenues came in slightly below their own estimates.

Top performing sectors so far today

Retailers 3,344.50 +3.33%

Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology 21,799.37 +1.46%

Personal Care, Drug and Grocery Stores 4,202.16 +1.37%

Gas, Water & Multiutilities 6,215.43 +1.07%

Electricity 10,996.85 +0.71%

Bottom performing sectors so far today

Telecommunications Service Providers 3,111.89 -3.90%

Personal Goods 28,165.27 -3.61%

Automobiles & Parts 1,702.91 -2.72%

Leisure Goods 18,382.06 -2.12%

Construction & Materials 6,395.89 -2.06%