Sector movers: Banks edge higher ahead of results season

22nd Apr 2013 15:21

Banking stocks were performing well on Monday, rebounding after bearing the brunt of falling risk appetite over the last week.Concerns about the global growth weighed on markets heavily last week after a slowdown in China and cuts to forecasts from the International Monetary Fund dampened the economic outlook. Cyclical sectors like banking are often sensitive to swings in the economic outlook. As such, banking shares in London lost nearly an average 3.0% of their value last week in total despite a slight bounce on Friday.Lloyds, Barclays, RBS and Standard Chartered were making gains this afternoon before banking results season kicks off this week.Lloyds had been making headlines over the weekend on rumours that it is putting its fund management arm Scottish Widows Investment Partnership up for sale to raise £820m. US financial services giant Ameriprise is said to be considering an offer for the unit. Lloyds is expected to show a return to profitability in its first-quarter results next week. Meanwhile, Barclays was in demand ahead of its results on Wednesday after Deutsche Bank reiterated its 'buy' rating for the stock this morning, saying it sees 33% upside to its target price of 380p. The broker said it expects an adjusted profit before tax of £2.0bn in the first three months of the year.The stock was extending gains after Citigroup on Friday named it among its "most preferred stocks" across the European banking sector. The US broker said: "A seasonal pick-up in capital market revenues should result in strong first quarter earnings. Meanwhile, the new cost programme should drive consensus upgrades over time, in our opinion."Top performing sectors so far todayFood & Drug Retailers 4,549.45 +0.98%Real Estate Investment Trusts 2,328.01 +0.50%Mobile Telecommunications 4,529.31 +0.41%Banks 4,679.85 +0.38%Insurance (non-life) 1,705.48 +0.26%Bottom performing sectors so far todayIndustrial Metals & Mining 1,677.13 -4.06%Oil Equipment, Services & Distribution 21,817.03 -2.62%Industrial Engineering 8,611.91 -2.42%Chemicals 8,830.67 -1.60%Personal Goods 20,515.84 -1.54%BC