Sector movers: Miners gain on hopes of further Chinese stimulus

Miners rallied on Thursday amid market chatter regarding the prospects for further economic stimulus in the People's Republic of China.

"The expectation that levers will be pulled to boost domestic demand across the world's second largest economy has helped push up commodity stocks," said Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown.

For analysts at SP Angel on the other hand, traders were "clinging" onto hopes of additional stimulus.

SP Angel also cited broker talk according to which fund managers' short positions had hit "extreme" positions.

Hence, in their opinion the underlying uptick in base metals' prices was "technical than fundamental".

A stronger yuan however had provided some support to Chinese buyers.

Worth noting, it was defensive areas of the market such as Tobacco and Pharma that topped the leaderboard alongside miners.

Top performing sectors so far today

Industrial Metals & Mining 6,646.22 +2.93%

Tobacco 29,536.69 +2.06%

Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology 20,376.10 +1.87%

Construction & Materials 9,092.07 +1.56%

Aerospace and Defence 6,406.73 +1.44%

Bottom performing sectors so far today

Automobiles & Parts 1,901.14 -1.78%

Travel & Leisure 7,654.27 -1.19%

Beverages 26,357.87 -1.18%

Leisure Goods 27,749.58 -1.03%

Software & Computer Services 2,149.16 -1.02%