Sector movers: Miners boosted by positive broker views

Shares in miners provided the biggest lift for the market, as at least two more top brokers weighed in with positive views on the space.

Barclays upgraded its view on Anglo American and Kaz Minerals, to ‘equalweight’ from ‘underweight’ in both cases.

On Anglo American, the broker's analysts said: "Had it not been for our cautious outlook on the diamond and platinum group metals markets, and continued labour/political uncertainty in South Africa, we would have been more positive on the investment case."

Macquarie was the other broker with an improved view of the mining space on Wednesday, lifting its recommendations on BHP Billiton and South 32 to 'outperform', mainly on the back of upwards revisions to its price forecasts for coal and manganese.

Its upgrade on South 32 was in fact a double-notch one, from 'underperform'.

On the back of its "276-day" supply reform initiative, China's domestic production of coking and thermal coal had dropped by between 10% to 20% year-on-year since late March, the Australian broker explained in a research note sent to clients.

That led the broker's analysts to hike their price forecasts for thermal and coking coal in 2017 by between 24% to 35%.

The recommendation on Anglo American on the other hand was revised up to 'outperform'.

Evraz's shares extended their mercurial rebound despite further falls in the most heavily-traded rebar future on the Shanghai Futures Exchange.

UK life insurers were also on the up, benefiting from Credit Suisse's decision to reiterate its 'overweight' stance on the group.

Going the other way, stock in BAE Systems came under pressure as analysts at Barclays reaffirmed their underweight on the aerospace and defence engineering group, referencing a recent downgrade from Standard&Poor's, the deteriorating UK pension environment and the growing political sensitivity regarding defence exports to Saudi Arabia.

Top performing sectors so far today
Industrial Metals & Mining 1,520.64 +4.18%
Technology Hardware & Equipment 2,172.41 +2.35%
Oil Equipment, Services & Distribution 15,161.87 +2.02%
Life Insurance 7,117.71 +1.94%
Mining 11,872.01 +1.77%

Bottom performing sectors so far today
Aerospace and Defence 4,516.33 -1.39%
Gas, Water & Multiutilities 6,509.54 -1.27%
Health Care Equipment & Services 7,618.94 -1.02%
Travel & Leisure 8,549.21 -1.00%
Personal Goods 30,785.06 -0.95%