Sector movers: Precious metal, oil and pharma stocks trade higher

The FTSE 100 closed 1.24% or 79.15 points higher at 6,444.42, while the FTSE 250 ended 0.58% or 99.62 points higher at 17,144.79. Precious metal stocks rallied as gold markets saw modest gains with investors’ focussed on the US Federal Reserve amid market expectation of a rate hike being postponed until the New Year.

COMEX gold for December delivery was up 1.25% or $14.60 to $1,180.40 an ounce, while spot gold was up 1.15% or $13.45 at $1,180.33 an ounce. Concurrently, COMEX silver was up 3.01% or 48 cents at $16.34 an ounce, while spot platinum registered a 2.31% or $22.85 gain to $1009.95 an ounce.

Fresnillo (up 4.84%) and Randgold Resources (up 3.68%) led the blue chips higher, while GlaxoSmithKline (up 4.31%) spread good vibes around the pharmaceutical sector as its third-quarter revenue and core earnings per share beat market expectations. Sector peer Hikma Pharmaceuticals (up 3.58%) also posted sizeable gains to end up among the top five blue chip stocks of the session.

Uptick in crude prices boosted midcap oil and gas companies. At 1523 BST, the Brent front month futures contract was up 4.74% or $2.22 to $49.03 per barrel, with WTI futures, up 5.63% or $2.43 to $45.63, also posted a recovery from the previous session’s decline as fresh data revealed the build up in US crude oil inventories slowed from last week to 3.4m barrels.

However, Wednesday’s data was not confirmed by the API which reported a bigger than expected build up of 4.1m barrels overnight. Premier Oil (up 7.89%) led the FTSE 250 movers, with rival Tullow Oil (up 6.77%) not far behind. Vendanta Resources (up 6.26%) and Kaz Minerals (up 5.14%) were also among the top five midcap stocks for the session.

Finally, British American Tobacco (2.62%) rallied after reporting a better-than-estimated fall in sales for the first nine months of the year with rival Imperial Tobacco (up 1.33%) also posting gains.