Sector movers: Cyclical names pace losses
Cyclicals were broadly lower on Thursday with selling among Construction and oil equipment stocks exerting the biggest drag on the market.
Hunting was the biggest faller among the latter after the outfit told investors that the oil price drop had seen it swing to a reported loss from operations of $183.6m versus a profit of $41.1m in the first half of last year, while underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation fell to $28.4m from $77.4m.
Going the other way, Technology issues paced gains on Thursday, tracking gains in their peers on the other side of the Atlantic.
Rising alongside were Travel and Leisure names, which were bouncing back from the previous day's losses.
Media was another area of strength in the market, with shares of advertising giant WPP sitting pretty at the top of the FTSE 100 despite the company saying that it plunged to a £2.6bn first-half loss as revenue fell and after it wrote down £2.7bn for the reduced value of its assets during the Covid-19 crisis.
But the firm did reinstate its dividend payout.
Top performing sectors so far today
Technology Hardware & Equipment 2,322.78 +2.08%
Travel & Leisure 6,756.92 +1.93%
Media 7,109.98 +1.40%
Personal Goods 37,971.54 +1.31%
Tobacco 26,665.55 +1.14%
Bottom performing sectors so far today
Industrial Metals & Mining 3,246.91 -2.44%
Construction & Materials 6,312.20 -1.79%
Oil Equipment, Services & Distribution 4,565.37 -1.57%
Industrial Engineering 12,597.74 -1.32%
Automobiles & Parts 2,701.07 -1.22%