Sector movers: ITV leads media shares lower as metals struggle

At 1459 BST, the FTSE 100 was down 0.21% or 13.93 points at 6,733.16, while the FTSE 250 was down 0.31% or 55.63 points at 17,690.21 with ITV (down 3.57%) pulling the media sector lower, and Evraz (down 7.46%) having a similar effect on metal stocks.

Past the midway point in trading on the London Metal Exchange, most three-month base metal delivery contracts, except primary aluminium (up 0.3%), were seen registering declines. Copper (down 0.6%), lead (down 0.6%), nickel (down 0.4%), tin (1.5%) and zinc (0.4%) were all trading lower.

Nonetheless, blue chip and midcap mining stocks posted an uptick, unlike the metal companies. Anglo American (up 2.72%) and Glencore (up 2.26%) led the way for the blue chips, while Vedanta (up 9.61%) did likewise for the midcaps.

Although, the oil market endured another volatile session, with Brent still below $50 a barrel at the time of writing, oil and gas stocks staged a recovery with oilfield services giant Weir Group (up 2.98%) among the FTSE 100’s biggest risers, and BP – the previous session’s biggest faller – closeby gaining 1.63% or 6.25p to 389.45p. Additionally, Petrofac (up 3.16%) was keeping midcap oil and gas stocks ticking.

Overnight declines in media stocks stateside saw, ITV shed 3.57% or 9.70p to 262.20p. Knock-on effects on the sector saw Informa, UBM and Pearson dragged lower with the media sector index as whole down 1.02%