Sector movers: GKN lifts auto parts, dollar and China hit miners

GKN led the automobiles & parts sector on Wednesday as the war of word with unwanted suitor Melrose Industries continued.

This time it was proxy voting adviser PIRC, which issued a missive telling Melrose shareholders they should oppose the FTSE 250 group's £7bn bid for the FTSE 100 engineer due to the hostile nature of the offer and political concerns. Melrose investors face a vote on the deal on 8 March, including whether to issue shares to help to finance the deal.

Shareholder approval from both sides for Tesco's takeover of Booker sent the food & drug retail sector higher. Tesco shares were up 1.8% and Booker 1.6%.

Sainsbury's and Ocado were both higher too, with the former's Argos arm standing to gain from the collapse into administration of Toys R Us.

Mining was the big faller on Wednesday, with Fresnillo, Antofagasta, Anglo American, Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton in the bottom 10 for the day as the stronger dollar saw lower metals prices.

Commodities were also hit by the latest data releases from China, as both the manufacturing and non-manufacturing PMIs for February came in lower than expected at 50.3 and 54.5, respectively.

Top performing sectors so far today

Automobiles & Parts +1.82%
Food & Drug Retailers +1.67%
Forestry & Paper +1.11%
Aerospace and Defence +0.98%
Chemicals 14,643.82 +0.96%

Bottom performing sectors so far today

Mining -1.93%
Industrial Metals & Mining -1.17%
Insurance (non-life) -1.03%
Household Goods & Home Construction -1.00%
Tobacco -0.99%