Sector movers: Miners lead on hopes for Chinese housing sector
Miners paced gains on the FTSE 350 at the start of the week as optimism over Chinese housing sales boosted the price of copper.
According to Reuters, new home sales in 16 Chinese cities jumped for a fifth straight week, fanning hopes that the construction sector might have hit bottom.
On the back of the news, three-month LME copper futures rose 1.71% to $9,141.50 per metric tonne.
Analysts at SP Angel also noted how the rapid build up of copper inventories seen during the previous week had begun to slow in Shanghai.
Top performing sectors so far today
Industrial Metals & Mining 7,967.35 +2.70%
Household Goods & Home Construction 11,677.76 +1.44%
Precious Metals and Mining 10,839.29 +1.18%
Construction & Materials 8,076.68 +1.13%
Chemicals 12,646.20 +0.77%
Bottom performing sectors so far today
Leisure Goods 23,058.64 -1.75%
Retailers 3,348.89 -0.81%
Electronic & Electrical Equipment 9,582.05 -0.73%
Real Estate Investment Trusts 2,444.32 -0.68%
Personal Care, Drug and Grocery Stores 4,202.67 -0.66%