Sector movers: Miners outperform despite geopolitical uncertainty
Industrial metals and precious metals miners' shares paced gains in the middle of the week following reports that China was easing some Covid-19 restrictions in Shanghai.
Travel and Leisure stocks also performed well, despite all of the uncertainty related to the war in Ukraine and oil prices.
Indeed, just the day before, easyJet had foregone the opportunity to provide investors with guidance for the back half of 2022.
Aerospace and Defence issues also gave back some ground despite the still dire situation on the ground in Ukraine and expectations for the fighting in the country's easternmost regions to intensify over the coming weeks.
Linked to the above, progress on peace talks between the two sides appeared to have ground to a halt.
The day before, Russian President, Vladimir Putin, said negotiations had ground to a halt, claiming that Kyiv had walked back on some of the concessions made at the end of March.
Yet in parallel, a Russian assault was continuing on the southeastern Ukrainian port of Mariupol while on Wednesday afternoon the White House would approve further military aid for Ukraine, this time including hundreds of armoured military vehicles.
Top performing sectors so far today
Electronic & Electrical Equipment 9,297.38 +1.00%
Medical Equipment and Services 9,061.66 +0.83%
Industrial Metals & Mining 8,321.87 +0.79%
Travel & Leisure 6,687.33 +0.72%
Precious Metals and Mining 11,879.29 +0.66%
Bottom performing sectors so far today
Household Goods & Home Construction 13,053.77 -1.87%
Chemicals 12,850.86 -1.75%
Automobiles & Parts 2,226.08 -1.59%
Non-life Insurance 2,933.44 -1.07%
Aerospace and Defence 4,681.63 -0.91%