Sector movers: Fresnillo, Antofagasta drag miners lower

23rd Aug 2011 15:03

Despite rising early on, the mining sector was in the red on Tuesday afternoon, led by silver and gold miner Fresnillo.Falling silver and gold prices dented Fresnillo's share price, meaning that by 15.18, shares were 7.3% lower at 1,891p.Meanwhile, South America-focused copper miner Antofagasta was 1.7% lower at 1,192p despite posting a sharp rise in profits for the six months to 30 June. Fellow FTSE 100 miners Randgold Resources and Vedanta Resources also fell.Shares in Peninsular Gold fell back after the Malaysian miner said revenues and profits for the year to 30 June may be lower than the market expects due to delays caused by heavy rains and low gold grades at its Raub mine.In contrast, 75% rise in profits drove share price gains for Spectris on Tuesday and, in turn, the electronic and electrical equipment sector.Spectris, the instrumentation and controls company, saw pre-tax profits rise 74% in the first half of 2011 to £77.7m, on the back of revenues that rose 25% to £507.2m. The firm also hiked its dividend by 15% to 8.2p per share.Sector peer xG Technology was also making gains after the wireless communications technologies developer celebrated positive findings from a field trial with the US army, in which its xMAX systems "perform[ed] as advertised".BCTop performing sectors so far todayElectronic & Electrical Equipment 2,686.88 +2.79%Technology Hardware & Equipment 627.85 +1.75%Industrial Engineering 6,124.06 +1.61%Chemicals 6,203.33 +0.95%Support Services 3,837.37 +0.86%Bottom performing sectors so far todayAutomobiles & Parts 4,105.64 -2.01%Industrial Transportation 2,068.83 -1.19%Mining 19,880.45 -1.09%Oil Equipment, Services & Distribution 20,300.23 -0.82%Fixed Line Telecommunications 1,945.98 -0.64%