Sector Movers: Consumables lead FTSE 100 higher on a dire day for miners

2nd Apr 2015 11:45

Consumables related stocks kept the FTSE 100 firmly in the green on Thursday as miners endured a pummelling from investors.At 15:50 the FTSE 100 was trading up 0.38% or 25.69 points at 6835.19 led higher by food and beverage stocks. Coca Cola HBC (up 3.85%) and Marks & Spencer (up 3.68%) topped the risers.The former befitted from having its price target upped by Nomura from 940p 1,000p. The latter delivered its first growth from clothing and general merchandise for 14 quarters, with like-for-like sales unexpectedly rising 0.7% in both clothing and food. The market had been expecting general merchandise sales at M&S to fall and food to be flat.The wider food sector also soaked in the feel good factor with Gregg's (up 1.86%) and Just Eat (0.62%) both in the green. Supermarkets Tesco, Sainsbury's and Morrisons were trading in positive territory as well with the Easter weekend in sight.A host of other retailers such as Next, Home Retail, Debenhams, Mothercare, Ted Baker and French Connection were also making gains. However, Kingfisher retreated into the red from strong gains made on the announcement of 60 store closures on Tuesday, part of chief executive Veronique Laury's plans for a "very different" company.Elsewhere, Imperial Tobacco (up 2.82%) continued to recover from Tuesday's dramatic loss, which was driven by concerns that the Lorrillard-Reynolds merger will fall apart. Rival British American Tobacco also benefitted from the positivity registering a 1% rise.Going the other way, mining stocks endured a dire pre-Easter trading session as the price of iron ore plunged below $50 per metric tonne for the first time in over 10 years, with oversupply and lacklustre Chinese demand hitting the market hard.Mining majors BHP Billiton (down 2.48%), Anglo American (down 1.87%), Antofagasta (down 1.84%), Glencore (down 1.13%), Fresnillo (down 1%) and Rio Tinto (down 0.16%) ensured the sector stayed in the red. Overall, the cumulative index of mining stocks neared the end of the session down 1.26% or 176.30 points at 13,486.69.Top 5 Sectors:Food Producers 7719.20 +131.46 +1.73%Tobacco 42,484.56 +638.32 +1.53%Beverages 14,771.15 +176.83 1.21%Mobile Telecommunications 5,071.29 +56.90 +1.13%Personal Goods 26,630.89 +287.20 1.09%