Sector movers: Engineers and auto firms in the red

2nd Sep 2011 14:26

Only one sector was making gains in the UK on Friday afternoon as markets across the globe suffered a broad sell-off on the back of a disappointing jobs report from the US.In London, the automobiles and parts sector was the worst performing sector, with sector giant GKN falling over 4%.Next in line were the industrial engineers, with blue chip Weir being the worst performer on the FTSE 100 index, falling 6%. Sector peers IMI was also in the red.FTSE 250 engineer Charter International was lower after UBS said that it's "time to exit" and downgraded the stock from neutral to sell following Thursday's revised offer from rival Melrose. Melrose, too, was out of favour.Meanwhile, the real estate investment and services sector was the sole group of stock in the blue.Safestore, the AIM-listed self storage company, was on the rise, making gains after reporting on Wednesday that third quarter revenues rose 5.4% to £24.1m.Invesco Property Income Trust rose by nearly a tenth after the firm confirmed that its property portfolios were valued at £207.2m at 30 June, a 5.6% underlying like-for-like improvement compared with the same date in 2010.BCTop performing sectors so far todayReal Estate Investment & Services 1,482.33 +0.03%Bottom performing sectors so far todayAutomobiles & Parts 4,482.07 -4.48%Industrial Engineering 6,665.40 -4.21%Oil Equipment, Services & Distribution 21,313.33 -3.21%Electronic & Electrical Equipment 2,874.17 -3.18%Oil & Gas Producers 7,367.22 -3.11%