Sector movers: Defensives fare well in market sell-off

5th Apr 2013 16:05

Defensive sectors were making slight gains on Friday as a disappointing employment report from the States prompted a sharp decline in risk appetite and some heavy falls across global stock markets.US non-farm payrolls increased by just 88,000 in March, the lowest rise in nine months, according to the Labor Department. This was well under the 190,000 consensus estimate.While the news increased the likelihood that the Federal Reserve would hold back from tapering off its quantitative easing programme anytime soon, the FTSE 100 reacted with a 1.5% fall on Friday following a weak start on Wall Street."Market bulls on both sides of the Pond may be tempted to take risk of the table and enjoy the weekend, given the apparent dependence on positive US data for market strength in the last few weeks," said Nick Dale-Lace, a Senior Sales Trader at CMC Markets.As such, the utilities and electricity sectors were the only ones in positive territory by the close of trade as traders sought out relatively 'safer' assets in the broader market sell-off. Defensives are usually seen as stocks that are relatively resilient under tough economic conditions.Centrica and National Grid were on the up this afternoon, while Drax was being lifted by an upgrade by HSBC to 'overweight'.Top performing sectors so far todayGas, Water & Multiutilities 5,765.76 +0.14%Electricity 9,543.12 +0.09%Bottom performing sectors so far todayIndustrial Metals & Mining 1,962.55 -3.51%Oil Equipment, Services & Distribution 23,745.56 -3.32%Travel & Leisure 5,816.50 -3.26%Fixed Line Telecommunications 3,129.22 -2.79%Financial Services 6,267.46 -2.72%BC