Sector movers: Miners in the red

8th Mar 2011 16:01

Mining giant Antofagasta is pulling down the sector despite saying that it will pay a special dividend after profits topped the $1bn mark in 2010.The Chile-based group will pay out 116c per share in total for 2010 including a special payment of 100c. In 2009, it paid 23.4c with a 14c special. Net profits last year rose by 58% to $1.05bn, from $668m, on revenues up by 55% at $4.58bn from $2.96bn.Sector peer Xstrata also underwhelmed the market after it said its $4.2bn Las Bambas copper project in southern Peru's Apurimac region has cleared another regulatory hurdle.Mobile telecommunications is performing well today boosted by a recovery of blue chip Inmarsat after the share price plummeted yesterday.The satellite operator stunned its investors with a warning that growth had slowed sharply in the last few months, saying that "A slowdown in growth in the last quarter of 2010 and early 2011 has resulted from lower usage levels for some of our products."Top performing sectors so far todayFixed Line Telecommunications 2,424.97 +2.78%Alternative Energy 2,806.15 +2.06%Mobile Telecommunications 4,141.41 +1.67%Tobacco 28,433.74 +0.64%Real Estate Investment & Services 1,597.58 +0.55%Bottom performing sectors so far todayMining 25,965.02 -2.21%Personal Goods 19,687.89 -2.19%Industrial Metals & Mining 7,896.69 -1.77%Oil & Gas Producers 8,644.95 -1.64%Industrial Engineering 6,724.02 -1.42%