Sector movers: Glencore and Anglo American rise, Admiral in reverse

20th Jan 2015 16:21

A spate of stronger-than-expected economic reports out of China overnight triggered a small rebound in commodity stocks such as Glencore and Anglo American following recent heavy losses.At 7.3%, the rate of growth in Chinese Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the last three months of last year was unchanged in comparison to the previous quarter. It was also one tenth of a percentage point more than analysts had been expecting. In particular, markets seemed to draw comfort from the fact that for the entire year growth was put at 7.4%, just a shade below Beijing's official target of 7.5%.Meanwhile, separate data revealed that industrial production and retail sales accelerated slightly in December, to expand by 7.9% and 11.9%, respectively.The latest figures on the state of the property market also pointed to some signs of stabilisation, although according to analysts at Danske Bank it "remains fragile". The rate of decline in new homes sales slowed to 4.1% year-on-year last month, from -13.3% in November.Even so, three-month copper futures ended the session 0.2% lower at $5,667 per metric tonne on the LME.Acting as a backdrop, overnight on Tuesday the International Monetary Fund lowered its forecast for global economic growth in 2015 by three tenths of a percentage point to 3.5%.Going in the other direction, shares in Admiral and Direct Line retreated after Marcus P.Rivaldi and Jon Hocking at Morgan Stanley wrote to clients in a research note saying that: "At the start of 2015 we think it remains premature to get bullish on UK motor names, given fundamentals continue to be challenging.""We see downside risk to Admiral shares on disappointment related to earnings and the pace of dividend growth."