Sector movers: Miners in a hole as lower prices hit Antofagasta

26th Aug 2014 17:54

Miners were on the slide on Tuesday after news of lower copper output and prices hit Chilean copper producer Antofagasta.Antofagasta said first-half earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) fell from $1.27bn to $1.128bn after the average copper sales price dropped 2.2% and copper output eased 4.4%.Investec, which has a 'sell' recommendation on the stock, compounded the woe by putting its target price and profit forecasts under review, although it said it did not expect to make big changes.Other miners took a hit, with Rio Tinto falling 35p to 3357.5p, silver miner Fresnillo dimming 9p to 912.5p and BHP Billiton dropping 0.5p to 1943.5p.Elsewhere, supermarkets were on the up after Bruno Monteyne, an analyst at Bernstein Research, said Tesco should split itself into three parts if it is to turn its fortunes around.Monteyne said Tesco had the potential to challenge Waitrose but only by splitting its "Finest" stores from the regular operation, while the creation of a discount chain would go some way to curb the threat posed by Aldi and Lidl.Tesco shares rose 4.1p to 252.1p, Sainsbury's gained 5.8p to 312.3op and Morrisons lifted 4.1p to 181.8p.Top performing sectors so far todayIndustrial Metals & Mining 1,344.53 +3.12%Construction & Materials 3,994.02 +2.53%Forestry & Paper 11,072.96 +2.09%Automobiles & Parts 8,407.68 +1.81%General Industrials 4,183.98 +1.74%Bottom performing sectors so far todaySoftware & Computer Services 1,169.68 -1.65%Household Goods & Home Construction 11,946.57 -0.53%Health Care Equipment & Services 5,914.09 -0.45%Industrial Transportation 2,849.17 -0.06%Mobile Telecommunications 4,632.00 -0.01%PW