Sector movers: Greek optimism and Chinese policy weaken defensives

20th Feb 2012 14:57

Greek optimism and a decision by the People's Bank of China to cut its legal reserve ratio requirement for large banks by half a percentage point combined to boost market sentiment, rendering defensive stocks unpopular as investors sought risker stocks. Shares in British American Tobacco and Imperial Tobacco ran out of puff, dragging the tobacco sector into the bottom spot. Meanwhile, miners were marching higher, pulled up by a soaring Vedanta. Kazakhstan-based miner ENRC did nothing to slow the sector despite Nomura reiterating its recommendation to clients to reduce their holdings in the stock."ENRC's operating assets are located in Kazakhstan while its international growth prospects are primarily located in Africa (DRC, Zambia, Mozambique and Zimbabwe) and Brazil," Nomura wrote this morning. "Higher geopolitical risk is a key negative for ENRC as other diversified miners operate in relatively more stable geographies, in our view," the broker added. FTSE 100 is up 43 at 5,949. NRTop performing sectors so far todayIndustrial Engineering 8,081.34 +3.44%Construction & Materials 3,728.90 +1.82%Mining 22,456.50 +1.69%Automobiles & Parts 5,302.73 +1.66%Technology Hardware & Equipment 767.44 +1.45%Bottom performing sectors so far todayTobacco 35,970.93 -0.47%Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology 9,744.84 -0.41%Beverages 11,275.74 -0.30%Food Producers & Processors 5,516.75 -0.30%Health Care Equipment & Services 3,559.23 -0.26%