Sector movers: Stocks gain as investors stop chasing gains in tech

Shares in the FTSE 350 continued to rally back towards their all-time highs at the start of the week, as investors rotated back towards value shares while taking some profits in technology names following recent sharp gains in the space.

"Just as worries about poor market breadth hit the mainstream, breadth begins to recover," said IG chief market analyst Chris Beauchamp.

"Last week saw Nvidia soar and the Nasdaq 100 hit 20,000, but the new week has continued where Friday left off, with old economy stocks rallying and tech continuing to drop back. This kind of rotation is very healthy for a continuation of the rally into July."

Beauchamp also noted that it was fresh inflows that drove gains in London's top-flight index on Monday with political risk apparently off the agenda on either side of the Channel.

"Despite a lack of news today it seems that investors remain content to buy the dip."

As an aside, on Monday analysts at JP Morgan sounded an upbeat note on the outlook for eurozone stocks in the run up to the first round of French parliamentary elections on 30 June.

Nonetheless, they said they feared that things would likely need "to get worse before they got better", even if they expected an attractive entry point to open up in the back half of 2024.

Writing in the FT, Gideon Rachman also sounded a hopeful note, even as he laid out all the potential pitfalls.

Top performing sectors so far today

Personal Goods 15,195.20 +3.50%

Life Insurance 5,880.95 +3.10%

Chemicals 8,383.46 +2.30%

Tobacco 29,221.19 +1.75%

Leisure Goods 26,916.13 +1.63%

Bottom performing sectors so far today

Retailers 3,936.57 -0.66%

Medical Equipment and Services 11,333.64 -0.62%

Gas, Water & Multiutilities 5,681.13 -0.61%

Software & Computer Services 2,520.64 -0.58%

Closed End Investments 12,073.54 -0.17%