Sector movers: Miners pace gains as US dollar shifts down again

Miners were at the forefront of the advance on the FTSE 350 again on Wednesday as investors continued to mull the prospect of slower interest rate hikes globally as evidenced in a weakening US dollar.

In the background, December copper on COMEX climbed by nearly 4% to reach $3.54 a pound, as the US dollar spot index fell by over 1% to 109.76.

Meanwhile, similarly-dated gold futures on COMEX put on 1% to $1,669.69/oz..

Triggering the move was a smaller-than-expected 50 basis point interest rate hike by Bank of Canada which dovetailed nicely with the current narrative on Wall Street according to which the Federal Reserve might decide to slow its own pace of tightening after its 2 November meeting.

"It was looking set to be another mixed bag of a day for markets in Europe, until 3pm when the Bank of Canada raised rates by a less than expected 50bps to 3.75%, in a move that suggests that central banks are starting to wake up to the possibility that too aggressive rate rises could do more harm than good," said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK.

"It's also got markets asking the question, could the Fed follow suit next week after another poor set of housing numbers from the US."

Hewson was referring to data release earlier that revealed another sharp in new US home sales in September with economists anticipating worse still to come.

Top performing sectors so far today

Automobiles & Parts 1,208.58 +4.50%

Industrial Metals & Mining 6,874.35 +3.12%

Industrial Transportation 3,311.16 +2.56%

Precious Metals and Mining 9,654.94 +2.49%

Chemicals 11,738.06 +2.46%

Bottom performing sectors so far today

Personal Care, Drug and Grocery Stores 3,871.72 -1.83%

Beverages 27,264.54 -1.32%

Gas, Water & Multiutilities 5,162.97 -0.67%

Banks 2,911.31 -0.39%

Leisure Goods 16,561.32 -0.23%