Sector movers: Consumer staples rise as investors seek defensive stocks

14th Apr 2014 13:56

Consumer staples and non-cyclical stocks were benefiting from a reduction in risk appetite in London on Monday, as investors sought out more defensive assets.Tobacco and beverage stocks, supermarket chains and food producers were among the best performers of the day.Defensives are stocks that tend to hold up relatively well in times of economic instability or phases of weakness in the economic cycle and have been seen as 'safer' assets after the steep falls experienced on global equity markets in recent days.Market Analyst Chris Beauchamp from IG said that sentiment was still fragile after investors rotated out of high-growth sectors such as technology amid concerns of steep valuations. Rising tensions in Ukraine were also dampening risk appetite today."After the battering they took last week, investors can be forgiven for feeling more than a little unenthusiastic about plunging back into the riskier side of the market," he said.Food and beverage stocks on the FTSE 350 have risen by an average 2.2% since last Monday, outperforming the wider market which has fallen 2.5% over the same period.Drinks groups Diageo and SABMiller were rising strongly today, along with household and cosmetic product manufacturers Reckitt Benckiser and Unilever and tobacco rivals British American and Imperial.Meanwhile, Tesco was leading the grocery sector higher ahead of its annual results due out on Wednesday.Top performing sectors so far todayTobacco 39,006.24 +2.31%Beverages 14,280.58 +2.18%Food & Drug Retailers 3,759.62 +1.51%Food Producers & Processors 7,642.04 +0.95%Industrial Metals & Mining 1,084.04 +0.87%Bottom performing sectors so far todayTechnology Hardware & Equipment 1,131.06 -1.96%Travel & Leisure 7,021.32 -1.86%Software & Computer 1,122.71 -1.72%Financial Services 7,752.81 -1.59%Real Estate Investment & Services 2,745.93 -1.58%BC