Sector movers: Banks and chemicals bubble up
Chemicals, telecoms and banks were leading the rally on Wednesday, riding the crest of the global rebound, while pharmaceuticals and tobacco were the only sectors under water.
Banks had been among the main fallers earlier in the week, amid Brexit angst and read-across from CYBG's cautious tone about Brexit and PPI mis-selling.
As well as the wider upturn in sentiment, banks were helped by a note from analysts at Jefferies, who spied "scope" for improvement in net interest margins in 2019, though considerable caution was urged around Brext and the Bank of England's potential monetary policy.
"Our research concludes that slowing volumes may not mean bad news for 2019 and that there may be scope to improve pricing," Jefferies said, pointing to a shift in flow toward higher-yielding, longer-duration fixed-rate product. Also spreads of front-book prices available to new customers "have not kept pace with rising interest rates - our analysis suggests that the decline in the average rate on new lending inflected in mid-2018 and that momentum in spreads should pick up as rate hikes fully flow through."
Chemicals topped the list as Johnson Matthey reported a rise in first-half profit and said full-year results would be towards the upper end of guidance. Its clean air division continued to grow strongly, heavy duty vehicle catalytic converters performed well, natural resources saw good sales growth and margin improvement, while health was in line with the first half.
The rest of the sector, from potash miner Sirius Minerals to polymer producer Victrex, also moved higher.
The mobile telecoms and fixed-line sectors were both among the higher risers as TalkTalk issued half-year results and accelerated its full-fibre strategy with the launch of a company to build a new broadband network across Britain. The FTSE 250 company reported 3.9% growth in revenue and EBITDA up by a quarter as it added 104,000 new customers, improving from growth of 46,000 at the same time last year, taking its closing base to 4.24m.
The company also launched FibreNation to roll out faster, more reliable broadband to 3m UK homes and businesses. TalkTalk had previously announced its intention to invest in a new broadband network, giving further details about its plans on Wednesday, with FibreNation being established under an independent chair to rollout full fibre infrastructure.
Pharma and tobacco lost ground, with the traditional defensive sectors having benefitted in the previous day's risk-off sentiment.
Top performing sectors so far today
Chemicals 14,214.91 +5.32%
Mobile Telecommunications 3,504.64 +2.60%
Forestry & Paper 20,184.69 +2.40%
Banks 3,837.93 +2.24%
Automobiles & Parts 7,732.13 +1.97%
Bottom performing sectors so far today
Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology 15,052.36 -0.65%
Tobacco 32,478.35 -0.42%
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,033.84 1.24%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 18,544.90 0.97%
techMARK (TASX) 3,424.09 0.37%
FTSE 100 - Risers
Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 3,159.00p 13.76%
NMC Health (NMC) 3,694.80p 8.42%
Melrose Industries (MRO) 176.20p 5.35%
GVC Holdings (GVC) 775.50p 3.88%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 812.60p 3.52%
Smurfit Kappa Group (SKG) 2,248.00p 3.50%
Scottish Mortgage Inv Trust (SMT) 474.15p 3.45%
DCC (DCC) 5,740.00p 3.33%
Just Eat (JE.) 568.00p 3.20%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 596.20p 3.08%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Kingfisher (KGF) 237.80p -3.45%
Shire Plc (SHP) 4,577.00p -1.14%
Intertek Group (ITRK) 4,555.00p -0.91%
AstraZeneca (AZN) 6,198.00p -0.82%
British American Tobacco (BATS) 2,707.00p -0.72%
Ferguson (FERG) 4,758.50p -0.62%
Glencore (GLEN) 294.60p -0.44%
Halma (HLMA) 1,348.00p -0.15%
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,580.40p -0.11%
St James's Place (STJ) 997.00p 0.06%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Wizz Air Holdings (WIZZ) 2,965.00p 6.01%
Paragon Banking Group (PAG) 436.00p 5.98%
Sophos Group (SOPH) 336.80p 5.18%
EI Group (EIG) 185.60p 4.86%
TalkTalk Telecom Group (TALK) 127.70p 4.67%
Bakkavor Group (BAKK) 148.00p 4.52%
Metro Bank (MTRO) 2,088.00p 4.50%
Morgan Advanced Materials (MGAM) 273.80p 4.50%
Cairn Energy (CNE) 179.40p 4.24%
Close Brothers Group (CBG) 1,494.00p 4.11%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Indivior (INDV) 96.92p -11.85%
SSP Group (SSPG) 629.90p -8.02%
Babcock International Group (BAB) 568.40p -4.34%
Aveva Group (AVV) 2,454.00p -2.70%
Computacenter (CCC) 1,042.00p -2.62%
RHI Magnesita N.V. (DI) (RHIM) 3,450.00p -2.32%
Diploma (DPLM) 1,312.00p -2.24%
Kier Group (KIE) 796.58p -2.14%
Bank of Georgia Group (BGEO) 1,578.20p -2.11%
Plus500 Ltd (DI) (PLUS) 1,400.00p -2.10%