Commodity plays fared best on Thursday even as the US dollar continued edging higher on the back of a fresh batch of mostly better-than-expected data.
Perhaps most important, the latest readings for jobless claims, mid-Atlantic manufacturing and existing-home sales all appeared to point steady conditions at least for the near-term.
There was also talk amongst traders in the City, citing local state media in China, that Beijing might be readying some fiscal spending.
Against that backdrop, front-dated Brent crude oil put on 2.93% to $96.58 a barrel on the ICE, while TTF gas futures were up by 13.16% to €239/MWh.
Hence gains for Oil&Gas with some analysts also referencing a large unexpected drawdown in weekly US oil stockpiles, as reported the day before, for the move.
In the Precious Metals space, an upwards target price revision for Centamin out of analysts at RBC accounted helped centre attention on the sector.
The analysts raised their target for Centamin from 155.0p to 165.0p.
“H1’22 has proven out to be an inflection point for Centamin. Ongoing improvements in operational performance and costs should provide an uplift in free cash flow and dividends,” they said.
“Potential resource additions, Doropo and the new exploration block provide further optionality.”
Top performing sectors so far today
Oil, Gas and Coal 7,737.34 +1.96%
Electronic & Electrical Equipment 9,007.23 +1.65%
Household Goods & Home Construction 12,138.71 +1.52%
Precious Metals and Mining 10,213.91 +1.43%
Retailers 3,455.02 +1.42%
Bottom performing sectors so far today
Life Insurance 6,745.37 -1.05%
Industrial Transportation 3,454.47 -0.64%
Banks 3,372.20 -0.41%
Personal Care, Drug and Grocery Stores 4,216.88 -0.39%
Food Producers 6,169.67 -0.33%
