Sector movers: Miners, homebuilders pace advance

Miners led the pack north after analysts at Jefferies weighed with an upgrade on shares of iron-ore miner BHP Billiton, which in turn gave a boost to its main peers.

"We had been cautious on the miners due to weak demand, ongoing supply growth [...] However, demand has stabilized, supply is declining in most cases, balance sheets have strengthened due to FCF and asset sales, and valuations are inexpensive. Fundamentals have clearly improved. For some miners (BHP and FMG in particular)," Jefferies analyst Christopher LaFemina said in a research report sent to clients.

LaFemina bumped his target on BHP from 1,110p to 1,250p.

Shares of the major grocers followed in their wake after, with Tesco doing best following data from Kantar Worldpanel showing the smallest drop in Tesco's sales in six months.

Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar Worldpanel, said "Current trends suggest the retailer may return to growth this year, which would mark the end of a decline stretching back to March 2015.

"Tesco’s recent product launches have been making a positive impact on its performance, with its ‘Farm brands’ finding their way into over a quarter of the Tesco baskets this period.”

Home builders and UK life insurers also did well, with the former receiving a boost from Persimmon's interim figures, as Fitch weighed in on the latter group, telling clients that the outlook for long-term credit ratings in the space was "stable" notwithstanding the recent fall in interest rates.

Top performing sectors so far today

Mining 12,031.50 +2.86%
Food & Drug Retailers 2,702.84 +2.73%
Real Estate Investment & Services 2,469.76 +1.72%
Household Goods & Home Construction 16,844.47 +1.66%
Life Insurance 7,023.66 +1.56%

Bottom performing sectors so far today
Industrial Metals & Mining 1,391.62 -1.60%
Health Care Equipment & Services 7,834.17 -0.55%
Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology 14,700.42 -0.48%
Tobacco 56,807.63 -0.48%
Chemicals 12,203.77 -0.27%