Sector movers: Burberry higher on Chinese hopes, personal goods sector up

1st Dec 2011 15:19

Burberry was the second-best performer of the day on the FTSE 100 on Thursday, providing a lift to the personal goods sector.Iconic British luxury brand, a stock often sensitive to changes in the outlook for the Chinese economy, gained over 6% yesterday after the People's Bank of China (PBOC) announced plans to lower the legal reserve requirement for Chinese banks by 50 basis points. Many believe the PBOC is attempting to shield China from the turmoil in the Eurozone, while easing fears of a 'hard landing' for the economic growth, by giving banks the ability to lend more. Worries of a slowdown in Chinese economic growth have surrounded Burberry over the past few months, with the Asia Pacific region accounting for £265.3m of the £775.3m total retail/wholesale revenues in the six months to 30 September. In other news, the firm's chief executive Angela Ahrendts has been cited in French financial newspaper Les Echos today as saying that Burberry is planning to open more stores in Paris.Shares were 4.17% higher at 1,323p before the close of trade today, nearly 14% higher over the last week.Elsewhere in the personal goods sector, AIM-listed cashmere knit firm Dawson rose 4% despite seeing first half profits slump 34% due to rising raw material costs. "We have traded ahead of our expectations in the first half of the year but this is due at least in part to the timing of sales and our expectations for the full year remain broadly unchanged," Dawson said in a company statement. BCTop performing sectors so far todayPersonal Goods 20,874.95 +3.68%Tobacco 34,375.17 +1.78%Banks 3,387.96 +1.44%Mining 20,707.59 +1.39%Mobile Telecommunications 4,039.26 +1.36%Bottom performing sectors so far todayReal Estate Investment & Services 1,518.36 -1.87%Industrial Transportation 2,119.69 -1.52%Fixed Line Telecommunications 2,178.22 -0.70%Insurance (non-life) 1,367.49 -0.67%Industrial Engineering 7,111.78 -0.61%