Sector movers: Geopolitical tensions boost precious metals miners

Precious metals miners are heading up gains on the top flight index amid renewed geopolitical tensions on the Korean peninsula but as a group, miners are in the red, weighed down by falls in the likes of Antofagasta, Glencore, BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto.

Shares of steel maker Evraz were also holding in the black as rebar futures in Shanghai defied selling pressure elsewhere in the metals space. The same held true for Anglo American amid gains for copper futures at the start of trading, although by 1330 BST the three-month LME contract for the red metal was 0.1% lower to $5,936 a tonne.

Overnight, North Korea lobbed what at first was reported as an intercontinental ballistic missile over the Japanese home islands in what some commentators labeled a "clear provocation". On the other hand, the fact that it was not fired in the direction of the US Pacific territory of Guam was seen by others as a sign that Pyongyang had 'blinked'.

Real estate investment was also managing to keep its head above water after analysts at Berenberg upgraded their recommendation on shares of Computacenter to 'buy', highlighting how the firm had met all of its forecasts and more since it touted the shares to clients roughly a year ago.

In any case, the news was enough to push the yellow metal back to its early November 2016 highs around $1,330/oz. on COMEX.

At the bottom of the pile meanwhile were Construction stocks, with shares of US-focused CRH among the weakest components.

All the big UK-listed grocers were weak too at the start of the week, on the back of news - as reported in The Times, The Daily Mail and FT - that Amazon.com had decided to slash prices at its newly acquired Whole Foods Market unit by as much as 43%.

Top performing sectors so far today
Industrial Metals & Mining 3,507.07 +1.29%
Real Estate Investment & Services 2,623.82 +0.01%

Bottom performing sectors so far today
Construction & Materials 6,508.57 -2.35%
General Industrials 6,167.04 -2.10%
Automobiles & Parts 7,360.23 -1.93%
Electronic & Electrical Equipment 5,832.37 -1.93%
Food & Drug Retailers 2,944.18 -1.93%