Sector movers: Life insurers climb, food producers drop
Life insurers and automobiles were at the forefront on a mixed day for London stocks on Monday, as an earlier boost for the mining sector saw that sector slide into the red later in the session.
Early in the session, resources stocks paced the gains after US President Donald Trump reported that "substantial progress" had been made in bilateral trade talks with China, leading him to postpone the increase in US tariffs on Chinese goods that had been planned from 1 March.
Chinese stocks surged but the reaction in European and US markets was tempered by a report from Chinese state-run news agency, Xinhua, saying that the last round of talks would be harder and that "new uncertainties" had arisen, possibly a reference to the White House's push for Beijing not to weaken the country's currency as part of any deal.
Further curtailing gains for metal prices was the US dollar coming off its lows.
Leading the life insurers was Prudential, which has strong exposure to China, up more than 3%. Legal & General and St James' Place were both up around 1%.
Automobile & parts were among the strongest segments in Europe, with Aston Martin up more than 2%.
Food producers & processors were the biggest fallers, led by supermarket prepared meals provider Greencore. AB Foods was also in the red after it provided a pre-close update for the first half of its financial year, with slower sales growth than forecast.
Top performing sectors so far today
Life Insurance 7,696.36 +1.92%
Automobiles & Parts 7,114.42 +1.41%
General Industrials 5,663.22 +1.03%
Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology 15,094.55 +0.99%
Industrial Metals & Mining 5,399.24 +0.78%
Bottom performing sectors so far today
Food Producers & Processors 7,118.88 -1.58%
Leisure Goods 7,694.53 -1.44%
Mobile Telecommunications 3,111.46 -1.44%
Industrial Transportation 2,324.32 -1.28%
Mining 19,423.71 -1.20%
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,188.76 0.14%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 19,236.09 -0.17%
techMARK (TASX) 3,519.93 0.13%
FTSE 100 - Risers
Prudential (PRU) 1,587.00p 3.39%
Hiscox Limited (DI) (HSX) 1,636.00p 2.63%
Melrose Industries (MRO) 178.35p 2.50%
Smith (DS) (SMDS) 341.40p 2.40%
GVC Holdings (GVC) 643.00p 2.39%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 967.20p 2.24%
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 4,700.00p 2.24%
AstraZeneca (AZN) 6,284.00p 2.03%
Barclays (BARC) 159.24p 1.99%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 294.00p 1.94%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Pearson (PSON) 855.40p -5.27%
Persimmon (PSN) 2,352.02p -4.70%
Bunzl (BNZL) 2,439.00p -3.94%
Fresnillo (FRES) 975.00p -1.85%
Associated British Foods (ABF) 2,274.00p -1.69%
Rentokil Initial (RTO) 336.90p -1.64%
Vodafone Group (VOD) 139.52p -1.61%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 164.90p -1.58%
ITV (ITV) 131.95p -1.49%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 884.00p -1.30%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Metro Bank (MTRO) 1,534.00p 7.27%
Provident Financial (PFG) 614.70p 4.29%
Fidelity China Special Situations (FCSS) 226.30p 3.57%
Rotork (ROR) 293.40p 3.46%
Intu Properties (INTU) 115.19p 3.12%
Syncona Limited NPV (SYNC) 284.71p 2.41%
John Laing Group (JLG) 385.00p 2.18%
Just Eat (JE.) 719.20p 2.16%
Superdry (SDRY) 528.00p 2.13%
Jupiter Fund Management (JUP) 335.50p 2.07%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 96.60p -28.10%
Vivo Energy (VVO) 128.62p -5.63%
Funding Circle Holdings (FCH) 354.95p -5.03%
IG Group Holdings (IGG) 549.75p -4.31%
CLS Holdings (CLI) 236.50p -4.25%
Acacia Mining (ACA) 240.30p -3.80%
Royal Mail (RMG) 275.90p -3.77%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 197.55p -3.16%
Greencore Group (GNC) 195.90p -2.92%
Sports Direct International (SPD) 263.90p -2.76%