Sector movers: Miners jump, banks not far behind

7th Dec 2016 15:42

(ShareCast News) - Miners were higher, boosted by news that Chinese authorities would reduce polluting steel-scrap processing in 2017 and ahead of options declarations on the LME, on Wednesday.The news out of China pushed steel rebar futures up from $489.4 per tonne to $495.00 in Shanghai.Spot iron ore futures at Tianjin were also higher, gaining to $77.3 per tonne in overnight trading with analysts at SP Angel also referencing the generally risk-on environment in financial markets globally, alongside recent strong data out of Germany and the US.Rio Tinto was leading the pack after analysts at Credit Suisse upped their recommendation on its stock from 'neutral' to 'outperform' and hiked their target price from 2,750p to 3,600p. BHP Billiton on the other hand was taken down a peg to 'neutral'.The Swiss broker also revised its 2017 price forecasts for various commodities higher, including that for copper to $2.45 a pound versus $2.65 at the time of writing.To take note of, analysts at UniCredit pointed out the upcoming options declarations on LME."There has been much talk that call options might be acting as a magnet for LME prices [...] so it will be interesting to see if prices drift down to consolidate at lower levels now. That would be our base-case expectation for most markets given the scale of the price run-ups recently and that we have the FOMC meeting next week, at which a US interest rate rise is a virtual certainty," the Italian broker said.In the background, the FTSE Italia All Share bank Index was up 4.89% to 9,027.12, led by gains in shares of Unicredit which were rising 7.04% and those of Assicurazioni Generali which were ahead by 5.85%.That unexpected and extended rally in Italian lenders' shares was continuing to stoke buying in banks across Europe.UK life insurers were higher in tandem as analysts at RBC sounded an optimistic note on the sector."We believe bulk annuities are one of the best structural growth opportunities in European insurance. Neither Brexit nor Solvency II has slowed demand and we expect low competition to maintain high margins. We remain cautious on pensions - we believe that higher rate tax relief will be removed in 2017," RBC said.Top performing sectors so far todayIndustrial Metals & Mining 2,344.98 +4.98%Mining 15,230.47 +3.57%Automobiles & Parts 7,371.92 +3.48%Banks 4,219.88 +3.00%Life Insurance 7,768.68 +2.53%Bottom performing sectors so far todayMedia 7,066.30 -1.20%Industrial Engineering 10,013.37 -0.75%Electronic & Electrical Equipment 4,830.43 -0.51%Personal Goods 27,838.55 -0.40%Household Goods & Home Construction 15,453.46 -0.38%