Sector movers: Aerospace & Defence, Mining lead gains

In remarks on Monday evening, the president of the US federal reserve bank of Philadelphia, Patrick Harker, reiterated his support for three interest rate hikes over the course of 2017.

Indeed, in his opinion a first hike as soon as March was 'on the table'.

That saw A&D names advance for a second session as Sterling fell back, raising the value of companies' profits made overseas.

Also helping that sector, analysts at Citi weighed in with supportive comments for Rolls Royce ahead of its full-year figures which were due to be published the following week.

Given the manufacturer's recent agreement with the Serious Fraud Office and indications that its free cash flow will come in ahead of forecasts, "results next week should mark the inflection from fire-fighting to looking to the future," analysts Charles J Armitage and Devang Doshi said in a research note sent to clients.

Significantly, precious metals futures were higher despite a 0.54% rise in the US dollar index to 100.45, buoying shares of gold and silver miners.

Fresnillo also got help from HSBC, whose analysts reiterated their "non-consensus" 'Buy' recommendation and 1,840p target price.

The company, HSBC said, was years ahead of peers in growth, capital expenditures, and free cash flow, driving their expectation of continued outperformance.

Top performing sectors so far today
Aerospace and Defence 4,637.67 +2.01%
Household Goods & Home Construction 16,896.50 +1.63%
Personal Goods 29,819.86 +1.49%
Mining 16,551.75 +1.43%
Food Producers & Processors 7,466.92 +1.42%

Bottom performing sectors so far today
Construction & Materials 6,743.54 -1.00%
Oil & Gas Producers 8,076.02 -0.80%
Alternative Energy 0.00 0.00%
Alternative Investment Instruments NULL 0.00%
Automobiles and related providers NULL 0.00%