Sector movers: Weir leads industrial engineers higher

20th Jan 2014 15:07

Industrial engineers were making decent gains on Monday with sector heavyweight Weir among the best performers on the back of upbeat comments from analysts.The oil and gas engineer was up 4.2% at 2,227p in afternoon trade with a 'buy' rating from Redburn helping sentiment."Weir's valuation compared to the rest of the UK capital goods sector is such that any sign of earnings stability will be met by a re-rating," they said."In addition, Weir's returns on capital should increase in 2014 and 2015, reflecting optimum margin mix in the minerals division, lower restructuring costs, and improved working capital dynamics."Redburn said that Weir's share price could rise to as much as 2,600p in 12 months' time.Meanwhile, Head of Research Mike van Dulken from Accendo Markets said that one catalyst helping the stock today was "the boom in fracking and shale gas exploration, with success in the US now being looked to for replication elsewhere in the world, including China".He said that Weir was also benefitting from positive readacross from US counterpart Baker Hughes which announced its biggest weekly US rig-count gain in nine months.Others in the UK industrial engineering sector were making gains today, including Goodwin, Melrose and Castings.Top performing sectors so far todayIndustrial Engineering 10,511.67 +1.11%Tobacco 34,897.17 +1.09%Beverages 14,314.10 +0.76%Industrial Metals & Mining 1,329.37 +0.74%Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology 12,322.85 +0.72%Bottom performing sectors so far todayFixed Line Telecommunications 4,422.76 -0.97%Banks 4,946.21 -0.84%Forestry & Paper 10,825.21 -0.69%Personal Goods 24,772.07 -0.64%Mobile Telecommunications 5,546.32 -0.61%BC