Sector movers. Shares buoyed by speculation around June Bank Rate cut

Interest rate sensitive areas of the market fared best on Tuesday as softer jobs data and comments from the Bank of England's chief economist led some economists to reiterate their forecasts for a June rate cut.

According to the Office for National Statistics, employment shrank by 178,000 over the course of the first three months of the year.

That was worse than the 156,000 decline recorded over the quarter ending in February, but not as bad as the 220,000 drop anticipated by the consensus.

Similarly, average weekly earnings excluding bonuses were ahead by 6.0% year-on-year in March (consensus: 5.9%).

Hence, some economists saw room for a reduction in Bank Rate in June, but rate-setters were seen deferring their next cut until September.

In the background, US producer price data for April printed hotter-than-expected.

But the details of the report appeared to hint at a reduction in price pressures as measured by the Fed's preferred price gauge, the PCE price index.

Company-specific headlines were also at work on Tuesday.

Vodafone paced gains in the telecoms space on the back of its latest full-year numbers.

Burberrys' shares jumped ahead of its own results due out the next day.

Top performing sectors so far today

Telecommunications Service Providers 1,942.84 +3.69%

Medical Equipment and Services 12,331.57 +2.37%

Personal Goods 16,533.64 +2.02%

Electricity 10,998.83 +1.61%

Real Estate Investment & Services 2,336.32 +1.32%

Bottom performing sectors so far today

Oil, Gas and Coal 9,535.35 -0.97%

Travel & Leisure 7,806.31 -0.70%

Investment Banking and Brokerage Services 14,287.07 -0.56%

Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology 23,609.88 -0.39%

Personal Care, Drug and Grocery Stores 4,134.39 -0.23%