Sector movers: Soft U.S: ADP number stokes gains

Stocks moved higher as government bond yields resumed their downward move on the back of a weaker-than-expected print on a closely-watched survey of the U.S. jobs market.

Against that backdrop, it was interest rate sensitive areas of the market that led gains, including REITS, Telecoms and Electricity.

Miners on the other hand fared worst, due in part to concerns around the economic outlook in China.

Consultancy ADP's estimate of private sector payroll growth came in at 103,000 for the month of November, slightly undershooting a consensus forecast of 130,000.

The reading came two days before the release of the official non-farm payrolls number, which was expected to show jobs growth of 170,000.

Nevertheless, as Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics pointed out, the ADP's estimates were "deeply unreliable".

Be that as it may, the yield on the benchmark 10-year Gilt dropped by nine basis points to 3.944%.

In parallel, yields on similarly-dated U.S. Treasury debt gave back five basis points to 4.121%.

For their part, analysts at Barclays Research chipped in saying: "Soft-landing fever is in full swing. FOMO has pushed up equities far and fast, and may face a reality check at some point, but we believe the path of least resistance remains to the upside.

"We keep selective risk exposure via balanced Cyclical/Defensive sector allocation, and see improved optionality for Europe and SMIDs."

Top performing sectors so far today

Real Estate Investment Trusts 2,246.06 +1.64%

Electronic & Electrical Equipment 9,249.93 +1.62%

Telecommunications Service Providers 1,963.77 +1.59%

Leisure Goods 25,984.46 +1.54%

Electricity 11,033.62 +1.19%

Bottom performing sectors so far today

Precious Metals and Mining 9,821.85 -4.09%

Industrial Transportation 3,486.01 -3.13%

Industrial Metals & Mining 6,481.74 -1.33%

Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology 19,690.47 -1.17%

Tobacco 28,067.29 -1.17%