| CATEGORY: SECTOR REVIEW SECTOR: LIFE INSURANCE |
Fri 10 Aug 2012
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LONDON (SHARECAST) - Insurers have been dominating results this week, but we are not quite done with the sector on the results front, with Standard Life set to update the market next week.
The life assurance firm was among those leading the Life Insurance sector higher, helped by a reiteration of its neutral stance by UBS.
Aviva, which released results to a lukewarm response yesterday, joins Standard Life on the rise after a few brokers nudged up their price targets for the stock.
French broker Societe Generale, which rates the shares a "hold", has raised its price target for Aviva from 282p to 295p, while Deutsche Bank, which is a buyer of the stock, has lifted its target price to 370p from 350p previously. BofA Merrill Lynch, meanwhile, has lifted its price target to 330p from 318p; like SocGen, it is neutral on the stock.
HB Markets has gone a step further and upgraded the stock to "buy".
Chinese trade data surprised significantly to the downside this morning, with both exports and imports showing far slower growth rates than anticipated. That has suppressed demand for companies in the Industrial Metals & Mining sector. Among those hitting the low road is nickel and zinc miner Talvivaara, which issues a trading update next week.
Top performing sectors so far today
Fixed Line Telecommunications 2,562.45 +0.97%
Automobiles & Parts 5,080.62 +0.65%
Industrial Transportation 2,242.30 +0.65%
Mobile Telecommunications 4,428.86 +0.46%
Life Insurance 4,542.68 +0.30%
Bottom performing sectors so far today
Industrial Metals & Mining 2,798.90 -1.50%
Technology Hardware & Equipment 769.84 -1.04%
General Industrials 3,155.09 -0.70%
Oil Equipment, Services & Distribution 24,325.47 -0.67%
Beverages 12,597.57 -0.63%
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