Sector movers: Royal Mail, food reatilers edge higher while property stocks extend gains

Spikes in Royal Mail shares, food retail, mining and property companies provided market momentum on Monday, with the FTSE 100 trading marginally down.

At 16:33 BST, the blue chip index was down 0.18% or 12.41 points at 7,034.41 points as shares in Royal Mail topped the risers after rival postal firm Whistl revealed it has halted deliveries because private equity backer LDC had pulled out of funding to help expansion efforts.

Whistl said it was reviewing the viability of its London, Manchester and Liverpool due to challenging market conditions, such as the rise in online shopping and a reduction in letter-sending. Royal Mail was trading up 3.78% with the positivity filtering through to the wider sector as the likes of Clipper Logistics (up 1.27%) and DX Group (up 0.32%) also posted gains.

Property and housebuilders's stocks continued to rise with the spectre of a mansion tax having been lifted following the Labour party’s defeat in the general election. Taylor Wimpey (up 2.68%), Barratt Developments (up 1.36%) and Persimmon (up 1.26%) were all higher, however property listings website Zoopla could not sustain Friday’s gains ending the session down 2.54%.

Story of the day came from mining stocks, buoyed by the interest rate cut in top metals consumer China, and general improvement in the fortunes of the base metals market, with Anglo American (up 1.12%), BHP Billiton (up 0.74%), Glencore (up 1.10%), Vedanta (up 2.51%) and Rio Tinto (up 1.13%) all in the green.

However, platinum miner Lonmin (down 1.06%) took a knock after revealing plans to cut up to 3,500 jobs on predictions that precious metal prices will remain low for at least the short term.

Finally, food retailers also enjoyed a positive session with high street baker Greggs (up 2.16%), and supermarkets Tesco (up 1.70%), Sainsbury’s (up 1.26%) and Morrisons (1.05%) all in the green. Beyond food and groceries, Home Retail Group was the leading FTSE 250 stock up 5.26% or 43p to 860p.

Top five sectors

Postage & Transportation 3,023.58 +62.27 +2.10%
Food & Drug Retailers 3,266.03 +50.67 +1.58%
Industrial Metals & Mining 2,006.18 +19.69 +0.99%
Mining 14,755.23 +122.33 +0.84%
Household Construction 14,649.61 +25.75 +0.18%