Sector movers: Admiral drives down non-life insurance stocks

24th Aug 2011 14:49

A huge 13% fall in Admiral's share price on Wednesday was weighing down the non-life insurance sector.The car insurer plummeted despite unveiling record interim pre-tax profits that jumped 27% to £160.6m, from £126.9m the year before. While the profit figure was more or less in line with estimates, the market seemed to focus on Admiral's combined ratio (which measures how well the underwriting operations are doing - a lower number is better) which rose to 94.2%, from 89.3% in the first half of 2010, due to lower reserve releases.Japanese broker Nomura said, "Although this was to be expected given the mix was moving towards profit commissions, it is more marked than we anticipated."Shares tumbled 12.96% to 1,336p at 15:01.Also lower was sector peer Amlin, which announced on Monday that it had swung to a deep loss in the first half as a result of "unprecedented first half catastrophe loss activity". Shares were 3.4% lower and now stand 11% down over the past week.Meanwhile, the technology hardware and equipment sector was heading higher, lifted by sector giant ARM Holdings.The chip designer was given a boost on Wednesday on speculation that Apple's new iPhone 5 could boost outlook, according to Merchant Securities. While there is speculation that ARM could deploy its Core processors in the move into 'ultrabooks' and laptops, there are now rumours that as well as the iPhone 5 launching in October, there may also be a cut-price version of the current iPhone 4, the broker notes. "Clearly this would be a boost to volume and raise the outlook," analyst Julian Tolley said. Shares were 3.79% higher at 533.5p. Sector peer IQE, the semiconductor wafer products group, was also wanted, with shares 3.48% higher after appointing Norio Hayafuji as head of sales and marketing for the Asia Pacific region. "We already have a considerable presence in the Far East with a solid customer base and state-of-the-art manufacturing facility. The appointment of an acknowledged industry expert with extensive knowledge and experience of our industry in the region will help ensure that IQE is well positioned to exploit this growth potential," said chief executive officer and president Drew Nelson.BCTop performing sectors so far todayTechnology Hardware & Equipment 663.14 +3.65%Chemicals 6,424.91 +3.13%Mining 20,622.45 +2.73%Media 3,611.61 +2.62%Automobiles & Parts 4,243.59 +2.54%Bottom performing sectors so far todayInsurance (non-life) 1,385.43 -2.92%Tobacco 30,794.54 -0.89%Food Producers & Processors 5,267.51 -0.51%Household Goods & Home Construction 6,108.88 -0.34%Beverages 8,829.97 -0.29%