Sector movers: Financials, insurers pace gains as interest rates rise

Interest rate sensitive stocks such as life insurers and banks recovered some of their poise as government bond yields bounced back from their recent lows.

Significantly, traders cited comments from US president Trump during the afternoon saying he would have "something phenomenal" on taxes over the next two to three weeks as a reason for the uptick in 'risk appetite'.

Thus, as of 1638 GMT the yield on the benchmark 10-year US Treasury was moving higher by five basis points to 2.38%, alongside a bounce of three basis points to 1.24% for similarly-dated Gilts.

Close behind were shares in the oil majors such as BP and Royal Dutch Shell as crude oil futures advanced.

Miners on the other hand were knocked back as the US dollar continued to gain altitude again, acting as a drag on prices for precious metals.

Copper futures were also lower, with March 2017 COMEX copper retreating 0.56% to $2.6515 a pound, even as workers at the largest copper mine in the world, Escondida, in Chile, made preparations to go on strike.

Top performing sectors so far today
Mobile Telecommunications 4,463.28 +1.47%
Life Insurance 7,884.12 +1.32%
Oil & Gas Producers 7,970.11 +1.29%
Banks 4,375.83 +1.28%
Forestry & Paper 19,313.05 +1.24%

Bottom performing sectors so far today
General Industrials 5,911.55 -1.60%
Mining 16,165.33 -0.94%
Food Producers & Processors 7,598.64 -0.84%
Electronic & Electrical Equipment 5,234.22 -0.67%
Industrial Engineering 10,891.08 -0.66%