Sector movers: Metals, financials bear brunt of the sell-off

24th Jan 2014 15:33

Every sector on the UK stock market was either flat or in the red on Friday afternoon as a global rout of equity indices spurred investors to shy away from risk.Rising concerns about a slowdown in China - figures yesterday pointed to a contraction in the manufacturing sector in January - and a sell-off in emerging-market (EM) currencies prompted heavy falls from the industrial metals and financial services sectors in London.Industrial metals were lower after iron ore prices fell close a six-and-a-half month low as they headed for their third weekly loss. Steel futures, meanwhile, dropped to record lows earlier in the week. EVRAZ, Ferrexpo and Kenmare Resources were all trading lower today.Aberdeen, meanwhile, was leading the decline in the financial services sector after receiving a downgrade by Morgan Stanley to 'underweight'. The stock was down 8.4% at 385.9p.The bank said that a "deteriorating" fund performance at Aberdeen compounds challenges being faced in EM - bad timing for the company given the wider market sentiment towards those regions today.Morgan Stanley said that it continues to avoid "EM-centric" fund managers and instead prefers those with a focus on the developed markets, such as Schroders. The latter, however, was trading lower this afternoon, along with financial services peers Jupiter Fund Management, Man Group and Ashmore.Forestry and paper was another sector registering steep losses after some cautious comments from analysts at Credit Suisse, which said that softwood and hardwood pulp prices could come under pressure in the second quarter with "new capacity around the corner".While Credit Suisse kept an 'outperform' rating for sector heavyweight Mondi, the stock was a heavy faller this afternoon, dropping 3.6% to 943.5p.Top performing sectors so far todayBottom performing sectors so far todayForestry & Paper 10,152.01 -3.73%Industrial Metals & Mining 1,222.27 -3.13%Financial Services 7,484.85 -2.72%Household Goods & Home Construction 11,053.82 -2.49%Electronic & Electrical Equipment 4,328.52 -2.29%BC