Sector movers: Mining stocks rebound after recent drop

13th Oct 2014 13:33

UK-listed mining stocks, which bore the brunt of the recent market sell-off, jumped by an average of 3% on Monday as strong economic data from China prompted investors to hunt for bargains.The FTSE 350 mining sector had by Friday's close fallen by 19% since the end of July as anxieties about slowing global growth began to weigh on market sentiment.The decline has been more pronounced in recent weeks as weak economic data from the Eurozone and concerns about policy tightening in the States saw equity investors scale back their appetite for risk. Commodity prices have also dropped markedly over the past month.However, trade data from China released on Monday eased fears somewhat after both exports and imports jumped strongly in September, by 15.3% and 7% year-on-year respectively.Economist Robert Wood from Berenberg said that while the Chinese economy is slowing gradually, "we see a low risk of a hard landing". He said that the government has "all the tools necessary to quickly deal with any sharp downturn".Mining peers Anglo American, Rio Tinto, Randgold Resources, Fresnillo, BHP Billiton, Antofagasta and Glencore were among the best performers on the FTSE 100, while FTSE 250 groups Ferrexpo, Hochschild Mining and Polymetal also rose.Rio Tinto gained after Barron's said that the stock "looks attractive" and could rise 20% over the next year even if a potential merger with Glencore doesn't happen.Meanwhile, UBS lifted its rating for Randgold from 'neutral' to 'buy', and Credit Suisse upgraded Anglo American from 'neutral' to 'outperform'.Furthermore, broker Canaccord Genuity said that recent growth concerns in the mining sector have been "overdone" and recommended investors to "build positions in this period of share-price weakness".Top performing sectors so far todayMining 15,499.71 +3.06%Industrial Metals & Mining 1,301.23 +2.84%Automobiles & Parts 6,799.10 +1.50%Oil Equipment, Services & Distribution 20,829.90 +1.31%Banks 4,435.52 +1.23%Bottom performing sectors so far todayTechnology Hardware & Equipment 986.37 -2.55%Food & Drug Retailers 2,527.53 -1.42%Beverages 13,379.71 -1.31%General Retailers 2,510.04 -0.73%Electronic & Electrical Equipment 3,328.86 -0.67%