Sector movers: Software craters as NCC warns

A rebound in Laird following the crash lower in its shares during the previous session accounted for gains in the Technology Hardware space.

Meanwhile, Segro was the instigator of strength in REITs.

Segro published a trading update for the period from 1 July to 19 October on Thursday, with the board claiming continued strength over the third quarter.

The FTSE 250 firm said it saw continued momentum on leasing and pre-leasing of warehouse space, contracting £13.5m of new rent during the third quarter, including £3.9m in rent from existing space.

Going the other way - in alarming fashion - was cyber security and risk mitigation group NCC.

Management warned that profits growth would be hit by "a number of setbacks" in its core IT assurance division that included the cancellation of three large contracts, the deferral of another and delays with renewals of some contracts in managed services.

Softcat helped to offset some of the drag on its sector from NCC's woes.

In the previous session analysts at Credit Suisse upped their view on the stock from neutral to outpeform, highlighting the resilience shown by the business in times of uncertainty.

"If we take the final/ special dividend out of the share price, then Softcat trades on a Dec 2017 PE of 14x and will still have excess cash. We think this looks too low for a business that is demonstrating resilience to economic uncertainty and continuing to deliver premium growth and capital discipline. As a result, we upgrade our rating to Outperform," the Swiss broker said in a research note sent to clients.

Top performing sectors so far today
Technology Hardware & Equipment 1,121.74 +6.63%
Real Estate Investment Trusts 2,838.95 +0.93%
Life Insurance 7,017.82 +0.76%
Food Producers & Processors 7,883.17 +0.67%
Tobacco 55,653.08 +0.66%

Bottom performing sectors so far today
Software & Computer Services 1,985.21 -2.86%
Electronic & Electrical Equipment 5,221.65 -1.95%
Industrial Engineering 9,993.72 -1.85%
Media 7,419.02 -1.79%
General Industrials 5,370.62 -1.68%