Sector movers: Defensives pace gains

Shares of electricity companies paced gains on the FTSE 350 on Tuesday as investors continued to shift back into longer-dated government bond yields on either side of the Pond.

Against that backdrop, analysts at J.P. Morgan sounded a cautious note regarding the potentially "adverse" demand-supply bond imbalance, together with the concentration and potential for a reversal in leadership hurting the stock market.

Hence, in their opinion "the latest market move to a more Defensive trading should have legs, such as recent outperformance of Utilities and Staples, alongside commodity sectors."

"At the core, the Goldilocks view that market embraced in Q1 of inflation/rates moving lower but at the same time of earnings acceleration and economy having no landing remains an inconsistent one," they added.

For their part, economists at Oxford Economics were of the view that the market pendulum had swung too far in dismissing possible rate cuts in the US in 2024.

They were still anticipating 50 basis points worth of cuts, but noted that uncertainty around the fiscal deficit during an election year as well in 2025 depending on who won "may make it inclined to tread more cautiously with respect to policy loosening."

Gains in shares of precious metals miners were also conspicuous coming on the heels as they did of recent weakness.

Worth noting, negotiators from Hamas and Tel Aviv were reportedly meeting to try and iron out an eleventh hour deal.

Top performing sectors so far today

Electricity 10,653.08 +3.29%

Industrial Engineering 13,830.85 +2.19%

Leisure Goods 24,228.90 +2.17%

Industrial Support Services 10,889.24 +2.13%

Precious Metals and Mining 10,290.42 +2.04%

Bottom performing sectors so far today

Personal Goods 16,144.65 -1.57%

Alternative Energy 0.00 0.00%

Alternative Investment Instruments NULL 0.00%

Automobiles and related providers NULL 0.00%

Banking NULL 0.00%