Sector movers: Homebuilders, Travel names sag

Homebuilders and Travel names dragged on the wider market in the middle of the week, amid profit-taking in the former and after the Transport Secretary defended tougher travel restrictions.

Grant Shapps on Wednesday defended the decision to potentially jail those who lie at the UK border for up to 10 years.

Cyclicals did manage to nearly offset losses in those two sectors, with Mining, Autos&Parts and Life Insurance all moving higher as investors waited on the US Congress for approval of a new fiscal stimulus package.

Nevertheless, analysts at Barclays cautioned clients against chasing cyclicals too far, pointing out how they had outperformed defensives by 25% since the March lows.

"Their relative valuations now look expensive, and the rebound in manufacturing PMIs is starting to moderate. Some profit-taking on expensive Cyclicals thus seems logical to us," they said in a research report sent to clients.

"Earnings recovery and rising yields argue against a defensive shift, but this should benefit Value more than Cyclicals. China/manufacturing plays have had a strong run, which prompts us to close our [overweight] on Capital Goods."

Top performing sectors so far today

Mining 23,731.13 +2.44%

Automobiles & Parts 4,983.74 +2.28%

Life Insurance 7,128.88 +1.47%

Industrial Metals & Mining 5,467.93 +1.13%

Banks 2,597.58 +0.62%

Bottom performing sectors so far today

Household Goods & Home Construction 16,826.05 -2.22%

Travel & Leisure 8,259.11 -2.04%

Food & Drug Retailers 4,598.15 -1.94%

Leisure Goods 25,415.63 -1.07%

Industrial Engineering 15,259.81 -1.05%