Sector movers: Big Oil proves biggest drag amid demand concerns

(Sharecast News) - Big Oil was the biggest drag on the FTSE 350 amid concern about global oil demand. News that Israel had acquiesced to a US sponsored ceasefire proposal added to the selling pressure and dragged front-dated Brent crude oil 0.4% lower to $77.28 a barrel on the ICE.

Hamas on the other hand had yet to agree to the deal.

Commenting on the price action in commodities, analysts at Citi said that investor sentiment towards commodities, when looking out to the back half of 2024, appeared to be more "cautious" than during the March-May period.

They also described price action as "sluggish", noting that volatility skews had been flattening for calls when compared to the second quarter peaks and that there was a "decent short bias among money managers".

"A softening China has certainly impacted base metals and bulk commodities. But US hard landing fears have also spiked in August despite some stronger-than-expected macro data last week (e.g. retail sales).

"This may exacerbate price volatility and potential gap risk for macro-sensitive underliers (e.g. oil, copper, gold) heading into quarter-end."

Worth noting, in the background, cable hit a fresh 52-week high at 1.3052 during Tuesday's session.

Strength in Sterling tended to weigh on the top-flight index as many of its components were big US dollar earners.

Top performing sectors so far today

Precious Metals and Mining 10,355.70 +0.80%

Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology 24,170.79 +0.18%

Automobiles & Parts 1,038.73 +0.09%

Alternative Energy 0.00 0.00%

Alternative Investment Instruments NULL 0.00%

Bottom performing sectors so far today

Telecommunications Service Providers 2,064.29 -3.38%

Oil, Gas and Coal 8,710.77 -2.78%

Industrial Transportation 3,875.47 -2.25%

Medical Equipment and Services 12,022.69 -2.13%

Personal Goods 11,313.53 -1.78%