Sector movers: Miners rise on Ukraine ceasefire deal, Rio Tinto jumps

12th Feb 2015 14:47

Mining stocks gained on Thursday, benefitting from an increase of risk appetite across financial markets as tensions between Ukraine and Russia eased, while Rio Tinto impressed with its annual results.Russian president Vladimir Putin on Thursday morning confirmed that the country had reached a ceasefire agreement with Ukraine which will come into effect on Sunday.The news sent shares in iron ore group Ferrexpo up 8% and steel producer Evraz up 1% on the back of their exposure to the war-torn nation.Hopes that China will step in to inject stimulus also continued to lift sentiment in the mining sector after data on Wednesday showed that inflation in the world's top metals consumer fell to its lowest in over five years in January.Meanwhile, gold prices rose for the first time in three days after the World Gold Council said that demand for the metal rose 6% year-on-year in the fourth quarter of 2014 to 988 tonnes. Demand for the whole of 2014 however, declined slightly after record 2013.Gold futures for April delivery were up 0.3% at $1,223.40 an ounce, helping precious-metal miners Centamin, Acacia Mining and Fresnillo higher.Rio Tinto gained over 3% as it pledged to return nearly $6bn to shareholders in respect of 2014 after hiking its full-year dividend by 12% and announcing a $2bn share buyback. The company also beat market expectations despite weaker commodity prices weighing on its annual results.Rio reported a 9% decline in underlying earnings per share to $5.03 compared with analysts' estimates of $4.82, as the impact of lower metal prices was partly offset by higher volumes and reduced costs. Top performing sectors so far todayOil Equipment, Services & Distribution 16,984.11 +2.88%Mining 14,414.33 +2.65%Forestry & Paper 13,518.05 +2.20%Construction & Materials 4,786.15 +1.90%Industrial Engineering 9,402.27 +1.80%Bottom performing sectors so far todayFood Producers & Processors 7,737.77 -0.79%Fixed Line Telecommunications 5,157.14 -0.70%Beverages 14,472.50 -0.69%Gas, Water & Multiutilities 6,110.76 -0.68%Software & Computer Services 1,334.94 -0.55%