Sector movers: Oil stocks retreat
By Oliver Haill
Date: Tuesday 09 Apr 2019
(Sharecast News) - Oil stocks retreated to drag the London equity indices under the waterline on Tuesday, while defensive sectors such as health care, life insurance and telecoms provided a little buoyancy.
Gains in the oil price at the start of the week were followed by a slight retreat on Tuesday, with Brent crude down 0.7% to $70.61 per barrel by the later afternoon in London after hitting a new 2019 high the day before.
"2019 has seen a pretty stunning recovery in the price of crude, as the market has bounced back pretty emphatically from the rout seen during the final quarter of last year," said David Cheetham, market analyst at XTB, noting that as is often the case in market moves that last for a prolonged length of time, the main catalyst for the rally has changed.
He said oil's recent gains had been helped by a softening in the US dollar and conflict in Libya, following earlier production cuts from the OPEC+ countries. OPEC production has fallen 1.98MMbbls per day from October levels, far exceeding the agreed OPEC cut of a little over 800Mbbls/d.
Economists at ING noted that the tightening oil market was "reflected in the deepening backwardation of the forward curve", but they "see limited further upside in the near-term for the flat price".
Although the fall in crude prices was only small, FTSE 350 producers from BP and Shell to Premier and Tullow were all in the red, along with most service providers too.
Amid Brexit worries as the government seemed to be making no concessions in its talks with the Labour party, 'defensive' stocks were in demand.
Also boosting the life insurance sector, Aviva was highlighted by Goldman Sachs as one of its top picks in the space, along with Quilter.
Top performing sectors so far today
Health Care Equipment & Services 6,978.41 +0.57%
Life Insurance 7,975.28 +0.30%
Chemicals 14,443.38 +0.04%
Fixed Line Telecommunications 2,617.19 +0.01%
Alternative Energy 0.00 0.00%
Bottom performing sectors so far today
Oil Equipment, Services & Distribution 11,335.42 -1.68%
Construction & Materials 5,757.36 -1.38%
General Industrials 5,666.33 -1.31%
Forestry & Paper 19,998.95 -1.28%
Household Goods & Home Construction 16,537.05 -1.07%
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,429.09 -0.31%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 19,458.18 -0.30%
techMARK (TASX) 3,552.19 -0.55%
FTSE 100 - Risers
NMC Health (NMC) 2,475.00p 2.40%
WPP (WPP) 872.80p 2.32%
ITV (ITV) 136.05p 1.91%
Aviva (AV.) 434.50p 1.14%
Experian (EXPN) 2,116.00p 0.95%
Standard Life Aberdeen (SLA) 282.30p 0.75%
Prudential (PRU) 1,674.00p 0.66%
Hiscox Limited (DI) (HSX) 1,555.00p 0.58%
Rightmove (RMV) 517.90p 0.56%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 649.20p 0.56%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 603.00p -2.71%
Severn Trent (SVT) 1,914.50p -2.35%
Just Eat (JE.) 722.60p -2.14%
Micro Focus International (MCRO) 1,923.50p -2.11%
Smurfit Kappa Group (SKG) 2,318.00p -2.03%
TUI AG Reg Shs (DI) (TUI) 724.40p -1.95%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 181.00p -1.90%
Melrose Industries (MRO) 185.70p -1.75%
Pearson (PSON) 823.00p -1.72%
Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 3,711.00p -1.70%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Sirius Minerals (SXX) 24.47p 10.80%
Bakkavor Group (BAKK) 136.00p 5.26%
Amigo Holdings (AMGO) 232.00p 5.22%
Morgan Advanced Materials (MGAM) 266.40p 3.82%
Contour Global (GLO) 199.80p 3.20%
IntegraFin Holding (IHP) 364.30p 2.79%
Restaurant Group (RTN) 114.90p 2.68%
Sports Direct International (SPD) 288.20p 2.56%
Provident Financial (PFG) 522.10p 2.49%
GVC Holdings (GVC) 595.00p 2.30%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Kier Group (KIE) 321.94p -5.53%
888 Holdings (888) 156.30p -3.52%
Galliford Try (GFRD) 675.35p -3.38%
McCarthy & Stone (MCS) 125.60p -3.09%
Crest Nicholson Holdings (CRST) 373.40p -2.81%
Stagecoach Group (SGC) 133.50p -2.70%
Mitchells & Butlers (MAB) 265.50p -2.57%
Bovis Homes Group (BVS) 1,075.00p -2.18%
Ted Baker (TED) 1,479.00p -2.18%
Redrow (RDW) 614.10p -2.18%
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