Sector Movers: Insurers keep London market on positive turf

Insurance stocks managed to keep the London market in marginally positive territory on Tuesday, while gold miners headed lower as precious metals slipped.

At the close of proceedings, the FTSE 100 ended a mere 0.92% or 55.79 points higher at 6152.88, while the FTSE 250 ended 1.12% or 186.41 points higher at 16,789.49.

Oil futures saw a second successive session on positive turf, as Brent and WTI futures registered appreciable gains on Tuesday. With Saudi Arabia commenting that it would work with other producers to limit oil market volatility, selected analysts opined there were hints the market had bottomed out.

At 1701 GMT, the Brent front month futures contract was up 1.23% or 45 cents to $37.02 per barrel, while the WTI rose 2.16% or 73 cents to $34.48 per barrel.

Away from oil markets, precious metals slipped into negative territory. The COMEX front-month gold futures contract was down 0.35% or $4.30 at $1,230.10 an ounce, while spot gold was down 0.62% or $7.65 to $1,231.02 an ounce.

COMEX silver fell 0.82% or 12 cents to $14.80 an ounce, but spot platinum bucked wider trends to head 0.46% or $4.26 higher to $938.11 an ounce.

Predictably, gold miners Fresnillo (down 6.20%) and Randgold Resources (down 2.47%) were among the biggest FTSE 100 fallers. However, diversified miner Rio Tinto gained after it announced the sale of its 40% interest in the Bengalla coal joint venture in Australia for US$616.7m (£443m).

Insurers led the FTSE 100 higher as Direct Line (up 5.40%) said gross written premiums from ongoing operations rose 1.7% in 2015 to £3.5bn. The company saw 4.8% growth in its motor division for the year and 7.1% in the fourth quarter.

Legal & General (up 4.10%) and Prudential (up 3.04%) also posted decent gains. London Stock Exchange Group (up 7.17%) ended the session as the biggest blue chip gainer yet again, as news of a rival merger bid to Deutsche Bank’s offer emerged from the ICE, owner of the New York Stock Exchange.

On a more negative note, equipment rental firm Ashtead slumped 8.82% as analysts pointed to concerns over the company’s plans to cut capital expenditure next year, as it reported a jump in third quarter profit.

Barclays (down 8.11%) also suffered heavy losses after it confirmed plans to sell its African business, announced a drop in full year profit and a large cut to the dividend.