Sector movers: Miners on the march

30th Mar 2010 14:48

The mining sector is higher after a couple of updates from big players.BHP Billiton has successfully persuaded several of its iron ore customers in Asia to move to shorter term contracts. The group said it has reached agreement with a significant number of customers throughout Asia to move existing iron ore contracts to a shorter term landed price equivalent basis; the contracts were previously priced annually.Heavy write-downs meant lower full year profits at copper miner Kazakhmys despite a much stronger second half as the price of the metal rebounded higher. Copper prices hit a new 11-week high this week, but were weak at the start of the year and Kazakhmys's underlying profits for 2009 fell to $1.02bn from $1.14bn.Banking stocks are lower, helping to keep the equity markets subdued.Chit-chat between bankers about loans at social events has proved expensive for Royal Bank of Scotland. The OFT has fined it £28.6m for possible price-fixing after Barclays confessed to the watchdog what had been going on. Barclays is in the clear under the OFT rule of not punishing informers. RBS, Barclays and Lloyds Banking are in the red.Top performing sectors so far todayIndustrial Metals & Mining 6,869.64 +2.80%Mining 24,441.68 +0.97%Food Producers & Processors 5,014.80 +0.71%Gas, Water & Multiutilities 4,261.22 +0.63%Household Goods & Home Construction 6,883.02 +0.62%Bottom performing sectors so far todayAutomobiles & Parts 3,256.93 -1.28%Banks 5,081.36 -1.28%Health Care Equipment & Services 3,633.15 -1.11%Aerospace and Defence 3,418.20 -1.10%General Retailers 1,693.40 -0.97%