Sector movers: Housebuilders falter, resource stocks in mixed fortunes

Resource stocks endured mixed fortunes on Monday during another volatile session for the commodities market.

The FTSE 100 ended 0.42% or 24.18 points lower at 5,779.92, while the FTSE 250 ended 1.25% or 201.79 points lower at 15,958.81. Oil futures stayed below $30 per barrel on Monday, with the US benchmark WTI retaining its premium to Brent.

At 1536 GMT, the Brent front-month futures contract was down 0.35% or 10 cents to $28.84 per barrel, while WTI fell 0.99% or 29 cents to $29.13 per barrel, retaining its premium to the global proxy benchmark as oversupply and the lifting of Iranian sanctions triggered further, albeit erratic, bursts of periodic short-selling.

Iran is expected to raise its oil exports by 500,000 barrels per day within the first few months of the international sanctions being lifted.

In the precious metals market, COMEX gold futures contract posted a dip of 0.10% or $1.10 to $1,089.60 an ounce, while spot gold was 0.02% or 26 cents higher at $1,089.14 an ounce. Away from gold, COMEX silver rose 0.32% or four cents to $13.94 an ounce, however spot platinum fell 1.12% or $9.29 to $820.06 an ounce.

Elsewhere, base metals were on a mixed patch during early afternoon trading on the London Metal Exchange. The three-month delivery futures contracts of copper (up 1.2%), primary aluminium (up 0.6%), nickel (up 1.9%), and zinc (up 0.2%) were trading higher, with lead (down 0.2%) and tin (down 1.4%) heading in the opposite direction.

Nonetheless, having taken a hammering for much of the past week, not all resource stocks were down as Glencore (up 2.24%) led the FTSE 100 risers. Resource stock declines were more prominent in the midcaps field, with Vedanta Resources (down 8.66%), Morgan Advanced Materials (down 5.07%), Centamin (down 4.92%) and Ophir Energy (down 4.88%) among the biggest FTSE 250 fallers.

Centamin was dented further on the back of reports in the Financial Times that total gold production was set to decline by 3% in the year ahead, following a 1% increase in mine production to 3,155 tonnes in 2015.

Elsewhere, a report from Rightmove showed house prices rose 6.5% in January compared to a year ago. However, between December 2015 and January 2016 asking prices increase just 0.5%. Shares in housebuilders' Taylor Wimpey, Barratt Developments and Berkeley Group slumped following the report.

Finally, among other corporate stocks, Sports Direct was under the cosh after one of the retailer’s major investors voiced its concerns about its relationship with Nike as well as its website offering. The investor believes that Sports Direct’s growth may be slowing as a result of not stocking enough of Nike’s latest ranges.