Sector movers: IMI, CRH pace gains on hopes for US economy

Newsflow out of the States and expectations for greater economic growth on the other side of the Pond was the common denominator in Monday's session.

At the head of the pack was engineer IMI after analysts at Deutsche Bank upped their target price on the shares from 1,064.0p to 1,170.0p.

In his note on IMI, Deutsche analyst Jonathan Hum said the company could be forgiven for not wanting to extrapolate from the improvement seen in its Industrial Automation revenues in the fourth quarter, when it provided guidance on 24 February.

"IMI are unwilling to extrapolate the trend and include within their guidance at this juncture, which is fair considering the demand didn’t carry through into week 3 of February and we have also heard evidence of a restocking cycle (particularly in the US) in anticipation of better future demand," Hum said.

CRH was also higher at the start of the week, as was often the case when US financial markets gained. To bear in mind was the Dublin-based company's heavy gearing towards the US economy.

Unilever was also on the up, with stock in the Emerging Markets-focused consumer goods giant holding near their 52-week highs as investors debated the wisdom of having rejected a takeover bid from Kraft Heinz.

Stock in CRH was also trading within throwing distance of its own 52-week highs. Some traders also cited comments by US president Donald Trump in favour of increased spending on infrastructure and defence as a reason behind the gains.

Car insurers were the main drag on the FTSE 350 after the Ministry of Justice slashed the rate at which compensation payments are calculated in personal injury claims to -0.75%.

Also to be found at the bottom of the pile were Electricity stocks and REITS as the yield on the 10-year benchmark Gilt jumped eight basis points to 1.15%.

Top performing sectors so far today
Industrial Engineering 10,787.87 +2.12%
Oil Equipment, Services & Distribution 14,920.98 +2.03%
Industrial Metals & Mining 2,449.80 +1.94%
Construction & Materials 6,628.79 +1.57%
Personal Goods 33,622.80 +1.18%

Bottom performing sectors so far today
Insurance (non-life) 2,778.52 -1.11%
Electricity 9,036.22 -0.96%
Real Estate Investment & Services 2,574.50 -0.83%
Real Estate Investment Trusts 2,921.01 -0.80%
Mobile Telecommunications 4,535.08 -0.67%