Sector movers: Precious metals miners, defensives pace gains

(Sharecast News) - Precious metals miners were again at top of the leaderboard for the FTSE 350 on Tuesday, as gold prices pushed up against their record highs around the $1,250/oz. mark. Weaker than expected survey data out of the U.S. was a drag on the U.S. dollar, which gave the yellow metal a lift.

Investors were also apparently unimpressed by the Chinese People's Congress decision to reiterate Beijing's growth target of 5.0% for 2024, although some analysts believed that geopolitics were also a factor.

"The National People's Congress of China's growth target for 2024 of 5% and the decision to increase defence spending by 7.2%, the same amount as last year despite its economic woes, while leaving a 'peaceful reunification' reference to Taiwan out of its communication, led to flight-to-safety purchases of gold," said IG senior market analyst Axel Rudolph.

For their part, analysts at Berenberg noted the uncertain political backdrop, both domestically in the U.S. as well as overseas.

"Taking a further step back, gold equities have generally not helped themselves since 2021 with costs generally squeezing higher and market expectations requiring a reset," they said in a research note sent to clients.

"Still, we think that 2024 could well be volatile, with ongoing wars in the Ukraine and Gaza, not to mention the US Presidential election in November, which could be a major positive for gold if Donald Trump is successful in returning to the White House."

Defensive areas of the market such as Electricity and Utilities fared well as a closely-followed survey of services sector conditions in the U.S. surprised to the downside.

The Institute for Supply Management's services sector Purchasing Managers' Index slipped from a reading of 53.4 for January to 52.6 in February (consensus: 53.0).

Details of the report were mixed, with gauges for employment and prices falling, whilst new orders strengthened further.

Yet the news dragged on longer-term government bond yields on either side of the Pond, which in turn boosted shares in those two sectors.

Top performing sectors so far today

Precious Metals and Mining 8,578.37 +4.59%

Electricity 9,927.53 +1.99%

Non-life Insurance 3,661.83 +1.51%

Gas, Water & Multiutilities 5,993.37 +1.44%

Retailers 3,843.59 +1.20%

Bottom performing sectors so far today

Industrial Transportation 3,834.90 -6.83%

Household Goods & Home Construction 12,890.28 -1.20%

Chemicals 8,966.28 -0.94%

Life Insurance 5,804.43 -0.81%

Software & Computer Services 2,482.67 -0.76%