News

Sector movers: Vedanta results lift miners

29 July 2008 12:37:00

Miners are going well after India-focused metals firm Vedanta said first quarter earnings rose 6% on the back of increased output.

EBITDA increased to $739m for the first quarter ended 30 June 2008 compared with $695.4m the same time a year earlier, despite lower zinc prices and rising energy and related costs, it said. Fellow blue chips Antofagasta, Kazakhstan's ENRC, Anglo American, Xstrata and Rio Tinto also posted healthy gains.

Lonmin, which mines for platinum in South Africa, was higher too, in line with rising prices for the precious metal. Central Rand Gold jumped nearly 8% as gold prices advanced for the fourth day in a row.

Barclays is leading the banking sector lower after US peer Merrill Lynch said it will book more write-downs and sell $8.5bn of stock to balance its books. HBOS and RBS also posted substantial losses.

Barclays' heavy fall comes despite the fact that Sanford Bernstein started coverage on it and RBS with 'outperform' ratings, saying that the period of banks' write downs on structured products may be coming to an end.

Despite most banks posting losses, Alliance and Leicester, which Spanish bank Santander plans to buy for £1.26bn, advances.

Top performing sectors so far today
Oil Equipment Services & Distribution 16,906.10 +3.01%
Mobile Telecommunications 3,056.00 +2.94%
Mining 23,090.00 +2.77%
Forestry & Paper 2,695.50 +2.04%
Oil & Gas Producers 7,720.20 +2.02%

Bottom performing sectors so far today
Banks 6,395.50 -2.57%
Personal Goods 7,225.10 -2.25%
General Retailers 1,197.20 -1.98%
Life Insurance 3,761.90 -1.86%
Automobiles & Parts 3,329.70 -1.74%

All data suppied by Digital Look (15 minute delay)




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