Sector movers: Miners, Oil & Gas shares pace losses as US dollar jumps

Mining and Oil & Gas shares were at the bottom of the pile on Wednesday, after US President Donald Trump poured cold water on hopes for a fast solution to trade frictions between China and the US.

Trump also cautioned that the summit between himself and North Korean leader, Kim Jong-Un, which had been scheduled for 12 June, might be postponed.

Some analysts said Trump's aim, especially regarding the latter, was to 'manage expectations'.

Perhaps, in any case, the US dollar jumped on the back of his remarks as risk aversion picked-up, triggering falls in comodity prices, especially for those of metals.

Against that backdrop, as of 1526 BST the US dollar spot index was higher by 0.36% at 93.9450 and back near its highest levels since December.

Wendesday's gains in the dollar saw COMEX copper trade down by 1.74% to $3.0775 a pound. Precious metals prices also turned lower, although gold futures were off by just a smidgen, with the August futures contract on that same exchange dipping 0.27% to $1,293.90/oz..

As an aside, some traders were also referencing talk, citing European Union officials, that the US administration was mulling imposing a 10% reduction on aluminium and steel from the bloc.

Unsurprisingly, crude oil futures were also moving lower, with the July-dated Brent contract losing 0.45% to $79.21 a barrel on the ICE.

To take note of, anlaysts at Citi sounded a skeptical note on talk of a 'sea change' in views of an investment shortfall and possible "supply gaps" as the main driver behind longer-dated oil futures.

"The change in speculative positioning indicates that there may have been a shift in investor structures from "outright long" to "spread" positions to capture the positive carry; over the last 5 weeks, COT data show that specs have cut length by ~100-m bbls whilst adding ~300-m bbls of spread positions," they said.

"A reduction in investor longs seems at odds with increasing long-term bullishness; prompt physical crude softness could explain it

but equity markets are also not indicating a material change in long-term oil views."

Top performing sectors so far today

Tobacco +1.36%

Electricity +1.07%

General Retailers +0.59%

Beverages +0.37%

Fixed Line Telecommunications +0.29%

Bottom performing sectors so far today

Mining -2.87%

Oil & Gas Producers -2.57%

Industrial Metals & Mining -1.57%

Industrial Engineering -1.45%

Oil Equipment, Services & Distribution -1.35%