Sector movers: Tobacco blazes trail, transport sinks

Tobacco blazed the trail on Tuesday, with London's heavyweight sectors all moving higher amid the risk-on mood, which saw industrial transportation the only big loser.

Tobacco bounced back from a down-day the previous session, with British American Tobacco lit up by an upgrade to ‘overweight’ from 'neutral' by Piper Jaffray, with Imperial Brands following close behind.

Jaffray said the valuation was attractive at current levels and patent litigation over the Glo e-cigarette in Japan may be less of a risk than it originally believed. It also said the risks of the US menthol cigarette ban look priced in and there is no risk to dividend growth.

With worries about Brexit still lingering like a bad smell, Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, noted that the tobacco heavyweights "have relatively little exposure to the UK’s looming exit from the EU”.

Oil producers were climbing as crude prices rebounded from the previous day's steep losses, with Brent up 2.5% to $61.48 a barrel, after it was announced the US imposed sanctions on Venezuela's state oil company PDVSA over the political turmoil in the country. The Latin American oil producer's output has dwindled in recent years, noted market analyst David Madden at CMC Markets, so oil supply shouldn’t be squeezed that much, but nonetheless, dealers are content to work with what they've got.

Among the miners, gold diggers such as Hochschild were gleaming has also reached an eight-month high and the slight dip in the US dollar has assisted the metal, Madden also noted. "Gold has been in a strong upward trend since mid-November, and if the bullish run continues it might target the $1,326. Any pullbacks might find support in the $1,300 might region."

Industrial transport was the big laggard due to Royal Mail, which said "business uncertainty" was hitting letter volumes and that cost pressures at the GLS international parcels business are also continuing to bite.

UBS analysts felt the "relative stabilisation in RMG's performance is encouraging, given the problems of the past 12 months". Ahead of the Capital Markets Day sometime after the results on 22 May, UBS added that the key question will be whether 2020 "is another year of margin squeeze and no catch-up on cost savings, or whether we will start to see a rebound and speeding-up of transformation".

Top performing sectors so far today

Tobacco +4.08%

Technology Hardware & Equipment +3.27%

Leisure Goods +2.92%

Industrial Metals & Mining +2.49%

Automobiles & Parts +2.33%

Bottom performing sectors so far today

Industrial Transportation -3.95%

Electronic & Electrical Equipment -0.41%

Fixed Line Telecommunications -0.13%

Construction & Materials 0.39%

Equity Investment Instruments 0.59%

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 6,836.29 1.32%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 18,709.77 0.94%
techMARK (TASX) 3,337.26 0.88%

FTSE 100 - Risers

British American Tobacco (BATS) 2,506.00p 5.52%
Smith (DS) (SMDS) 335.00p 5.05%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 4,064.50p 3.04%
Smurfit Kappa Group (SKG) 2,256.00p 2.83%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 640.40p 2.79%
Experian (EXPN) 1,936.50p 2.79%
Croda International (CRDA) 4,874.00p 2.59%
ITV (ITV) 131.55p 2.49%
3i Group (III) 831.00p 2.49%
Fresnillo (FRES) 964.60p 2.46%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 1,688.50p -6.04%
TUI AG Reg Shs (DI) (TUI) 1,177.50p -1.42%
NMC Health (NMC) 2,540.00p -0.78%
easyJet (EZJ) 1,283.00p -0.77%
Anglo American (AAL) 1,849.80p -0.77%
Scottish Mortgage Inv Trust (SMT) 465.15p -0.72%
CRH (CRH) 2,206.00p -0.59%
Halma (HLMA) 1,394.00p -0.43%
Hiscox Limited (DI) (HSX) 1,436.00p -0.35%
Prudential (PRU) 1,481.50p -0.30%

FTSE 250 - Risers

TI Fluid Systems (TIFS) 181.70p 7.07%
UDG Healthcare Public Limited Company (UDG) 597.00p 6.89%
Intermediate Capital Group (ICP) 1,036.00p 6.64%
Crest Nicholson Holdings (CRST) 364.20p 6.62%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 178.10p 6.01%
Vivo Energy (VVO) 133.00p 5.98%
Premier Oil (PMO) 70.30p 4.15%
Clarkson (CKN) 2,680.00p 3.88%
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 217.30p 3.87%
Assura (AGR) 59.21p 3.87%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

PZ Cussons (PZC) 181.00p -13.65%
Royal Mail (RMG) 259.90p -13.57%
Domino's Pizza Group (DOM) 250.90p -8.40%
Metro Bank (MTRO) 1,362.00p -5.35%
Edinburgh Dragon Trust (EFM) 357.00p -3.51%
TBC Bank Group (TBCG) 1,452.00p -1.89%
FirstGroup (FGP) 88.40p -1.89%
Wizz Air Holdings (WIZZ) 3,060.00p -1.83%
Funding Circle Holdings (FCH) 324.55p -1.65%
Hill & Smith Holdings (HILS) 1,120.00p -1.23%