Sector movers: Oil, Autos drag on FTSE 350

(Sharecast News) - Weakness in the oil patch and among select cyclicals dragged on the FTSE 350 in the middle of the week. Weighing on the former, America's Energy Information Administration, reported a 7.3m spike in commercial crude oil stockpiles during the latest week to reach 460.9m.

Wariness on the part of some analysts ahead of the Federal Reserve's policy meeting on Wednesday evening were likely also playing a hand.

Against that backdrop, as of 1830 BST, front-dated Brent crude oil futures were falling by 2.67% to $83.66 a barrel on the ICE.

Luxury carmaker Aston Martin Lagonda accounted for weakness in its sector.

Its shares took a significant hit, sliding 6.75% after the company reported a double-digit drop in revenues and adjusted profits for the first quarter.

However, it expressed optimism about future growth driven by the launch of four new models.

Going the other way, pharma and interest rate sensitive areas of the market, albeit with one notable exception - banks.

"We entered this year with a 'Goldilocks' macro base case centred on no US recession and improving H2 macro momentum for Europe and the UK," analysts at Berenberg said in a research note sent to clients.

"With signs of positive momentum building across Europe, we maintain our overall bias to financials and cyclicals in our respective sector strategy models."

Top performing sectors so far today

Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology 23,158.72 +0.83%

Real Estate Investment & Services 2,212.06 +0.79%

Gas, Water & Multiutilities 6,003.52 +0.67%

Construction & Materials 9,952.23 +0.52%

Banks 4,175.43 +0.40%

Bottom performing sectors so far today

Leisure Goods 23,646.56 -4.41%

Industrial Transportation 4,127.04 -2.26%

Oil, Gas and Coal 9,370.97 -1.70%

Automobiles & Parts 1,196.06 -1.36%

Retailers 3,862.89 -1.34%