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(Sharecast News) - Miners paced gains on Tuesday after it was reported overnight that Chinese gross domestic product growth accelerated by more than expected during the first quarter.
According to China's National Bureau of Statistics, GDP grew at annual clip of 4.5% over the three months to March.
That was more than the 2.9% pace seen in the last quarter of 2022 and ahead of economists' forecasts for a gain of 4.0%.
"While the Dow has struggled thanks to Goldman and J&J numbers, it is a positive afternoon for stocks, with markets taking their cue from China's GDP figures overnight, which have provided much-needed reassurance about the health of the global economy," said IG chief market analyst Chris Beauchamp.
"After a quieter start to the week, the FTSE 100 has made more headway today, even with the pound's strong showing against the dollar. Another boost on wages seems to have trumped the rise in unemployment benefit claimants and the higher unemployment rate, with the BoE now expected to use the strength in pay packets to support another rate hike."on Tues
But it was precious metals miners that fared best as the US dollar slipped following two sessions of big gains.
In turn, by 1619 BST June gold futures on COMEX were adding 0.7% to $2,021.10/oz., while May silver was climbing 0.98% to $25.34/oz..
Travel and Leisure names were also on the up on the back of well-received results out of Easyjet, alongside gains in the insurance space as stronger-than-expected wage data for the three months to February bolstered rate bets.
"Accordingly, the MPC's forecast for year-over-year growth in whole-economy total pay to slow to 4.0% by the end of this year still looks credible," said Samuel Tombs, chief UK economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics.
"The upward revision to the wage data, however, have raised the chances of the MPC hiking Bank Rate again next month; a further 25bp now looks like a toss-up, with the odds likely to shift decisively tomorrow after the publication of March's consumer prices report."
Top performing sectors so far today
Precious Metals and Mining 12,143.54 +2.44%
Travel & Leisure 7,551.77 +2.36%
Life Insurance 7,120.56 +1.81%
Industrial Metals & Mining 7,223.49 +1.68%
Non-life Insurance 3,109.81 +1.42%
Bottom performing sectors so far today
Retailers 3,590.98 -1.35%
Beverages 28,126.74 -0.82%
Real Estate Investment Trusts 2,270.90 -0.81%
Electricity 11,079.72 -0.70%
Telecommunications Service Providers 2,464.07 -0.68%
