Sector movers: Metals, telcos shares lead London market higher

Metals, mobile telecommunications and big tobacco stocks were among the few sectors to trade higher in pre-election trading on the London Stock Exchange on Wednesday.

The FTSE 100 closed up 6.16 points or 0.09% at 6,933.74, rebounding slightly after settling at a one-month low the previous session. Metals stocks shrugged off pre-election jitters following a blanket spike in the price of base metals.

Zinc hit its highest price in eight months overnight as copper capped its highest level since mid-December, while nickel rose to a six-week high.

On the London Metals Exchange, the zinc three-month contract closed at $2392 per tonne on Tuesday, up $49.00 or 2.1%, while the copper three-month contract closed at $6435 per tonne up $26.00 or 0.4% continuing steadily along its recent bullish path. Finally, nickel was up 3.3% or $457.50 at $14307.50 per tonne.

The positive vibes fed through to the industrial metals and mining sector which ended the session up 5.81% or 111.29 at 2025.88 with Evraz (up 4.95%) being the biggest beneficiary. Mining stocks in general also recovered from an Asian sell-off in wake of weaker economic data from China.

Big tobacco rose on yield potential with British American Tobacco ending the session at 3,582.50p up 35.00p or 0.99% while Imperial Tobacco Group ended at 3,175.00p up 55.00p or 1.76%.

Additionally, the latter also benefitted after lifting its dividend 10% as its growth brands delivered strong growth and earnings beat expectations in the first half. Concurrently, Imperial Tobacco’s adjusted earnings per share were up 4% to 93.3p.

However, the story of the session belonged to Vodafone which led the entire mobile and wireless telecommunications index higher. Exane BNP Paribas raised its rating on the mobile services provider's stock to 'outperform' and lifted its target price from 220p to 270p prompting investors to flock to Vodafone sending its shares higher to 232.20 up 1.60% at the close of trading.

Top five sectors

Industrial Metals & Mining 2,025.88 +111.29 +5.81%
Mobile Telecommunications 5,290.54 +75.84 +1.45%
Tobacco 42,756.38 +519.17 +1.23%
Fixed Line Telecommunications 5,172.56 +52.55 +1.03%
Banks 4,561.40 +23.68 +0.52%