Technology shares fared best on Thursday, as investors played catch-up with US peers in the wake of the recent rally on the tech-heavy Nasdaq.
Mining shares also fared well, bouncing back following recent selling.
Commenting on the outlook for metals’ prices, analysts at Citi pointed out that inflection points in the space tended to correlate well with inflection points in the trailing six-month average for Chinese Total Social Financing.
In January-February year-on-year growth in TSF had slowed to 16%, against the 36% pace of expansion observed over the same two months of 2020 and the 46% clip seen between January and September 2020.
Nonetheless, Citi said that: “even though credit impulse has slowed, enough has been in the first nine months of 2020 for metals demand to continue to growth till 2H’21.”
Going the other way, lenders’ shares were under some pressure following recent strong gains and as the European Central bank announced its intention to accelerate its bond purchases during the second quarter.
Top performing sectors so far today
Technology Hardware & Equipment 2,003.35 +6.95%
Mining 24,491.65 +2.60%
Electricity 8,227.87 +2.37%
Travel & Leisure 9,425.47 +2.35%
Electronic & Electrical Equipment 9,975.71 +1.77%
Bottom performing sectors so far today
Banks 2,822.88 -2.66%
Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology 15,029.68 -1.69%
Household Goods & Home Construction 17,760.64 -0.84%
Fixed Line Telecommunications 1,634.12 -0.76%
Beverages 23,537.24 -0.73%
