Sector movers: Miners drag amid US dollar strength, traders keeping an eye on geopolitics

(Sharecast News) - Miners were again at the bottom of the pile on Thursday with the US dollar having traded near the week's lows throughout most of the session. Despite the strength in the Greenback, industrial and precious metals' prices were both mostly higher.

Some City analysts attributed the selling in industrial miners to the fact that Rio Tinto went ex-dividend, saying that other names in the sector were falling in sympathy.

In any case, traders were expectant ahead of the monthly US non-farm payrolls data due out the next day which many believed might hold the key to whether the Federal Reserve would hike by 25 or 50 basis points at its next meeting on 21-22 March.

For their part, analysts at SP Angel pointed out reports according to which four Chinese copper smelters were looking to ramp up exports.

"The move marks a rare sign of ample Chinese domestic supply and limited domestic demand, as highlighted by us frequently with Yangshan cathode premiums, which have weakened over $100/t since October," they said.

But they went on to add that: "We remain wary of Chinese actions to manipulate commodity prices in state-sponsored efforts to reduce input price inflation."

Market participants were also keeping an eye on geopolitical tensions.

In a speech, Chinese President, Xi Jinping, called for "more quickly elevating the armed forces to world-class standards".

Xi also said that it was necessary to achieve "the goals for the centenary of the People's Liberation Army in 2027".

Two days before, the country's new premier, Qin Gang, had said that if Washington did not hit the brakes "no amount of guardrails can prevent derailing and there surely will be conflict and confrontation."

Qin also made a series of claims regarding what he said were US moves to stifle Chinese development.

But he made no reference to Beijing's actions in the South China Sea, Taiwan, as regarded intellectual property rights and foreign trade or the handling of the pandemic, not to mention the recent incident regarding overflights of the US by what Washington said were 'spy balloons'.

Top performing sectors so far today

Aerospace and Defence 6,185.90 +1.60%

Life Insurance 7,703.27 +0.80%

Software & Computer Services 1,870.21 +0.61%

Media 10,145.28 +0.57%

Retailers 3,361.17 +0.50%

Bottom performing sectors so far today

Automobiles & Parts 1,956.17 -5.58%

Industrial Engineering 14,990.12 -3.80%

Industrial Metals & Mining 7,128.93 -3.34%

Real Estate Investment Trusts 2,257.43 -2.94%

Precious Metals and Mining 9,809.17 -2.42%