Sector movers: Miners fall on commodities sell-off

12th May 2011 15:16

Unsurprisingly, the miners are the worst performing stocks on Thursday, as commodity prices continue to decline.Fresnillo, Antofagasta, Vedanta Resources, Kazakhmys and Lonmin are among the fallers on the FTSE 100.Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation is lower even though it reported a positive first quarter, driven by strong production and sales volumes and high commodity prices. However, it warned it faced cost pressures as prices for a number of key input materials continued to increase faster than expected. Eastern Platinum has fallen by nearly a fifth after reporting a first quarter loss of $5.63m and given details of a violent industrial dispute at its Crocodile River Mine in South Africa. Pharmaceuticals stocks are in demand today, with FTSE 250 company Hikma Pharmaceuticals among the risers.The group said it was on track to hit growth forecasts, with its operations businesses in Egypt, Tunisia and Bahrain performing well despite recent unrest. Sector peer AstraZeneca is also firmer after the drug giant was upgraded from 'neutral' to 'buy' by UBS, who highlighted a potentially significant upside if the US Food and Drug Administration approves its Brilinta drug.Top performing sectors so far todayPharmaceuticals & Biotechnology 9,597.35 +1.21%Electricity 8,420.30 +0.99%Food & Drug Retailers 4,895.75 +0.88%Travel & Leisure 4,861.01 +0.52%Food Producers & Processors 5,333.99 +0.51%Bottom performing sectors so far todayIndustrial Metals & Mining 7,682.94 -3.51%Personal Goods 21,654.87 -2.96%Mining 24,711.40 -2.81%Construction & Materials 4,098.75 -2.80%Oil Equipment, Services & Distribution 25,258.77 -2.03%