Sector movers: Miners rise as Greek outlook improves

13th Feb 2012 14:48

Miners were the best performers of the day on Monday on the back of the improving outlook for Greece.Yesterday, Greek politicians voted to approve the austerity measures designed to cut €3.3bn from the deficit and achieve the approval of the issuance of the second financing package. The new €130bn bailout will help Athens meet its financing needs and thus avoid a default. The Eurozone finance ministers are expected to convene on Wednesday to give the green light to the second bailout.Global equity markets were firmly in positive territory today, as risk appetite increased. In London, ENRC, Anglo American, Kazakhmys, Rio Tinto and Antofagasta were all making decent gains in mid-afternoon trade, with Anglo American performing particularly strongly despite seeing its underlying earnings contribution from Anglo American Platinum fall from $425m to $410m in 2011. Miners could also be rising on some additional M&A speculation in the sector, following on from last week's proposed $90bn mash-up between Glencore and Xstrata, which many believed would spark a bout of consolidation within the mining industry.This time around, rumours are circulating that Canadian miner Teck Resources could be upping its stake in Australian iron ore group Fortescue Metal Group, to compete with the iron ore activities of the Glencore-Xstrata tie-up. As such, Glencore was bucking the sector trend, trading down 0.26%.BCTop performing sectors so far todayMining 23,000.02 +1.89%Fixed Line Telecommunications 2,449.57 +1.86%Banks 3,998.83 +1.72%Automobiles & Parts 5,162.45 +1.66%Industrial Metals & Mining 4,807.12 +1.55%Bottom performing sectors so far todayPersonal Goods 21,776.87 -0.24%Household Goods & Home Construction 6,958.51 -0.18%Food & Drug Retailers 3,968.84 -0.04%