Sector movers: Oil producers, oil services and resources lead way
Miners and the oil services sector were the top risers on Tuesday, while utilities were hit by profit taking.
Crude oil prices were up more than 2%, lifting Brent above $70 per barrel. Oil engineers as a sector benefited most, with the likes of Wood Group, Petrofac, Hunting and Lamprell all in the black, while oil producers such as BP, Shell and Tullow were gushing too.
Some traders commented that comments from Chinese president’s Xi Jinping boosted oil prices on hopes that the trade tensions between the US and China, the two biggest crude oil consumers, will start easing.
Metals prices were also boosted by Xi's comments and US dollar weakness, lifting Anglo American, Antofagasta, BHP Billiton, Glencore and Rio Tinto.
Industrial metals were lifted by a rebound for Glencore, which took a beating the previous day on the back of US sanctions against Russia. The Swiss-based commodities giant rose as it said chief executive Ivan Glasenberg has resigned as a director of Russian aluminium producer Rusal, in which it holds a stake of just under 9%.
Russian steel producer Evraz also bounced back after heavy losses in the previous session.
The utilities were in the red as Centrica-owned British Gas said it would bump up prices for customers on its standard variable tariff by 5.5% from next month as it bemoaned rising wholesale and policy costs, adding that similar pressures were cited by Ofgem when they increased the pre-payment meter cap by just over £57 on 1 April.
National Grid, United Utilities and Pennon were all lower, as profit taking took affect the day after the sector stood among the top risers on the first day of the week.
Top performing sectors so far today
Oil Equipment, Services & Distribution +3.01%
Mining +2.99%
Industrial Metals & Mining +2.03%
Electronic & Electrical Equipment +1.90%
Industrial Engineering +1.90%
Bottom performing sectors so far today
Gas, Water & Multiutilities -1.92%
Electricity -1.20%
Tobacco -1.20%
Personal Goods -0.52%
Real Estate Investment Trusts -0.41%
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,248.93 0.75%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 19,633.95 0.77%
techMARK (TASX) 3,358.21 0.90%
FTSE 100 - Risers
Anglo American (AAL) 1,687.80p 4.81%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 947.80p 3.97%
Pearson (PSON) 768.40p 3.09%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,427.60p 3.06%
Glencore (GLEN) 348.10p 2.64%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 3,689.50p 2.47%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 2,023.00p 2.25%
Micro Focus International (MCRO) 1,175.50p 2.13%
Just Eat (JE.) 708.80p 2.04%
Smith (DS) (SMDS) 488.10p 1.94%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
United Utilities Group (UU.) 708.40p -3.14%
Severn Trent (SVT) 1,850.50p -2.37%
Coca-Cola HBC AG (CDI) (CCH) 2,644.00p -2.07%
National Grid (NG.) 820.70p -1.57%
Shire Plc (SHP) 3,654.00p -1.47%
SSE (SSE) 1,281.50p -1.39%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 264.40p -1.34%
British American Tobacco (BATS) 4,256.00p -1.22%
DCC (DCC) 6,595.00p -1.20%
Centrica (CNA) 141.88p -1.17%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Polymetal International (POLY) 639.00p 8.12%
Card Factory (CARD) 204.60p 7.68%
Capita (CPI) 141.30p 6.96%
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 228.50p 5.11%
Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 1,242.00p 4.85%
Kaz Minerals (KAZ) 895.40p 4.24%
Hunting (HTG) 687.50p 4.09%
Weir Group (WEIR) 2,013.00p 4.08%
Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 539.40p 3.93%
Greencore Group (GNC) 140.85p 3.57%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Mitchells & Butlers (MAB) 251.00p -4.27%
Provident Financial (PFG) 658.20p -4.22%
Ascential (ASCL) 405.00p -3.62%
Diploma (DPLM) 1,141.00p -2.56%
Sanne Group (SNN) 622.00p -2.20%
Pennon Group (PNN) 641.20p -2.17%
Wetherspoon (J.D.) (JDW) 1,112.00p -2.11%
Sophos Group (SOPH) 465.60p -1.69%
Workspace Group (WKP) 1,008.00p -1.66%
Marston's (MARS) 100.00p -1.57%