Sector movers: Confident Standard Life lifts insurance

3rd Feb 2010 13:52

Standard Life has given the life insurance sector a lift. The life assurance firm is looking to kick on in many areas of its business as the economic environment gradually improves.The company sees opportunities for growth in the UK in the SIPP (self-invested pension plans), Wrap and group pensions areas while Standard Life Investments is seeing strong demand for its fixed interest, Global Absolute Return Strategies Fund and SICAV (Societe d'Investissement A Capital Variable) offerings.AstraZeneca is among the stocks keeping the pharmaceuticals & biotech sector lower.Morgan Stanley said it is pessimistic about data from trials of the drug group's lung cancer treatment Recentin. 'While consensus expectations are low, we anticipate that potential negative data from the HORIZON III phase III data could still lead to near term weakness,' the broker said.Tiddler Angel Biotechnology is the heaviest faller in the sector after the contract bio-manufacturing company said it had placed 570.2m shares at 0.25p per share to raise £1.42m. The funds from the placing will provide additional working capital and will finance capital expenditure at the company's Edinburgh facility.Top performing sectors so far todayLife Insurance 3,803.72 +1.39%Construction & Materials 3,451.09 +1.05%Technology Hardware & Equipment 395.85 +1.05%Industrial Transportation 2,095.86 +0.76%Media 3,349.93 +0.66%Bottom performing sectors so far todayForestry & Paper 3,837.83 -1.30%Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology 8,489.46 -1.30%Personal Goods 11,060.50 -0.83%Electricity 6,774.47 -0.80%Fixed Line Telecommunications 1,950.44 -0.74%