Sector movers: Evraz pushes to fresh 52-week high

Slightly better-than-expected Chinese economic data saw shares in Russia-focused steel-maker Evraz notch a fresh 52-week high at 180.0p, taking its sector gauge higher with it.

Over the weekend, the official Chinese manufacturing sector purchasing managers' index for the month of September printed at 50.4 (consensus: 50.5), unchanged from the prior month.

In parallel, a similar gauge referencing the country's services sector hit 53.7, up from 53.5 in the previous month.

That data apparently sufficed to spark a certain degree of optimism that Chinese policy stimulus had been sufficient to prop up the economy thus far.

Further stoking sentiment, since Friday seven local Chinese governments had tightened home buying rules in a bid to curb demand, analysts at Deutsche Bank pointed out.

Indeed, economists at ANZ Bank said on 29 September the current housing cycle in China would last between 12 to 18 months; hence their expectation for strong demand for steel lasting through 2017.

Economists at Deutsche Bank on the other hand appeared to be a tad more restrained in their own prognosis.

On 30 September, Deutsche Bank's Zhiwei Zhang inked a report saying that the property bubble in the country would elicit a small positive effect on growth over the next three to six months, but provoke significant downside risk beyond then.

Financial services was the second-best performing sector at the end of the session, with news of a merger between Henderson Group and Janus Capital also lifting shares in the likes of Aberdeen Asset Management and Jupiter Fund Management.

Technology hardware stocks were also higher, boosted by reports that one of Apple's iPhone screen suppliers, AU Optronics, was seeing increased orders.

Top performing sectors so far today
Industrial Metals & Mining 1,779.66 +12.24%
Financial Services 9,514.74 +2.88%
Electronic & Electrical Equipment 5,165.64 +2.52%
Chemicals 12,578.85 +2.45%
Technology Hardware & Equipment 2,151.82 +2.11%

Bottom performing sectors so far today
Fixed Line Telecommunications 4,396.36 -0.87%
Alternative Energy 0.00 0.00%