Sector movers: Financials, miners and airlines lead London market higher

Financial stocks and miners led the London market higher on Wednesday, as improved economic data from China buoyed the market.

The FTSE 100 closed up 0.98% or 65.84 points at 6752.41, while the FTSE 250 ended up 0.23% or 40.65 points at 17775.08 on a bounceback from miners as short-sellers took a breather and indulged in a bit of a covering act on positive data from China.

The Caixin services purchasing managers’ index (PMI) for the country rose to 53.8 in July, from 51.8 the previous month. Yet, it was not enough to fire up the metals market, which continued to send mixed signals, as selected futures contracts saw heavy selloffs on the London Metal Exchange.

Past the midway point in trading, three-month delivery contracts of tin (down 5.2%) and zinc (down 1.1%) saw sharp drops. The drop in prices was less steep for primary aluminium (down 0.2%), copper (down 0.8%), lead (down 1.2%) and nickel (down 0.5%) giving a number of mining blue chips a breather.

Rito Tinto (up 3.93%), BHP Billiton (up 3.58%) and Antofagasta (up 2.87%) led the way, as analysts at Deutsche Bank opined that a supply correction is inevitable, if not around the corner just yet.

“The strong USD / weak producer currency environment continues to weigh on the industrial metal complex, but we are starting to see some signs of a producer response. However, in most markets we have not yet reached a critical mass of closures,” they wrote in a note to clients.

Financials, insurers and airliners were among the trend setters. Shares in Legal & General were given a lift as the insurer posted a 6% rise in first-half pre-tax profit and an 18% increase in operating profit on the back of strong organic growth in the UK and US, beating analysts' expectations across the board. Stronger cash led to directors hiking the interim dividend to boot.

Standard Chartered's share price chart painted a telling picture, with the market not quite sure what to make of the bank's interim results.

An unexpectedly sharp fall in profits and earnings, plus a halving of the dividend, was initially met with a short downward spike before the realisation that the savings from the slashed payout could reduce the likelihood of a right issue.

By late afternoon, with analysts such as those at Nomura neutral, the price was almost flat on the day.

Elsewhere, Easyjet shares took off on the back of encouraging passenger data from budget rivals Ryanair and Wizz Air.