Sector movers: ENRC leads miners higher

23rd Mar 2011 17:37

The mining sector was the best performing sector Wednesday, helped higher by strong gains from the blue chips.Kazakhstan-based mining giant ENRC announced that underlying profits more than doubled last year. Shares in Kazakhmys, Xstrata, Rio Tinto and Antofagasta rose in sympathy.The industrial metals and mining sector wasn't far behind, after Ukrainian iron ore pellet producer Ferrexpo doubled revenue in 2010.The electricity sector was the worst performing sector, extending losses from Monday when it was announced that UK energy companies will be referred to the Competition Commission this year unless they make their bewildering array of tariffs easier to understand. Industry regulator Ofgem said customers are being "bamboozled" by a complex system of tariffs that's risen from 180 to over 300 since 2008. "That is why we are planning to sweep away this complexity so suppliers' prices are fully exposed to allow easy price comparisons," Ofgem boss Alistair Buchanan said Monday. Power providers Drax and Scottish & Southern Energy were in the red.Top performing sectors so far todayMining 25,584.28 +2.55%Industrial Metals & Mining 8,144.95 +2.12%Beverages 8,973.37 +1.79%Tobacco 27,646.21 +1.51%Food Producers & Processors 4,894.17 +1.24%Bottom performing sectors so far todayElectricity 7,413.84 -2.29%Gas, Water & Multiutilities 4,498.46 -0.96%Media 4,173.21 -0.92%Food & Drug Retailers 4,483.71 -0.72%Insurance (non-life) 1,559.06 -0.67%