Sector movers: Defensives gain on mixed day, investors gird for BoE, Big Tech

(Sharecast News) - FTSE 350 stocks trade mixed at the start of the week with Defensive issues on the rise whilst geopolitics and concerns around economic growth overseas weighed on Travel and Personal Goods. "Last week saw the FTSE 100 come storming back, as the index touched a three-month low and neared an almost two-month high in the space of 48 hours," was the explanation out of Chris Beauchamp, chief equity strategist at IG.

"UK investors, like everyone around the globe this week, will be trying to keep on top of the plethora of earnings and economic events, so it's not surprising that the index has struggled to maintain momentum in today's session."

The Bank of Japan and US Federal were to announce their latest policy decisions on Wednesday, followed by the Bank of England the next day.

Microsoft meanwhile would publish its quarterly results on Tuesday, followed by Meta, on Wednesday, and by Amazon and Apple on Thursday.

Travel and Leisure names came under selling pressure on Monday, due to concerns regarding the potential for a broader conflict in the Middle East.

However, according to Ole Hansen at Saxo Bank, the market continued to see limited risks of a broader conflict hitting oil supplies from the region, Dow Jones Newswires reported.

Hansen pointed to the decline in Brent crude oil futures to back up his argument.

For analysts at ING on the other hand, such geopolitical concerns were being outweighed by worries about the outlook for growth in China.

Hence in part the renewed weakness in shares of Burberry.

But it was Personal Care that was faring worst, after a jury handed down a sentence against Abbott Laboratories' specialised formula for premature infants, having found that it provoked a dangerous bowel disease in an Illinois girl.

J.P.Morgan predicted that similar cases would be settled for $150-300,000, resulting in a total settlement of $500m-1.5bn.

About 1,000 cases had been filed against Abbott, Reckitt or both in federal US or state courts.

Top performing sectors so far today

Tobacco 31,631.36 +1.47%

Real Estate Investment Trusts 2,361.69 +1.38%

Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology 23,074.29 +1.35%

Life Insurance 5,763.93 +1.27%

Household Goods & Home Construction 14,745.46 +1.21%

Bottom performing sectors so far today

Personal Care, Drug and Grocery Stores 4,383.51 -1.17%

Travel & Leisure 7,351.58 -1.11%

Personal Goods 12,015.33 -1.02%

Construction & Materials 11,825.73 -0.95%

Automobiles & Parts 1,075.51 -0.80%