LONDON (ShareCast) - There were just a handful of stocks registering losses on Tuesday afternoon, mainly the defensives, as investors shifted back into ‘riskier’ assets following a week of heavy losses.

Real estate investment trust (REIT) peers Land Securities and Hammerson were among the worst performers, joined by supermarket rivals Morrisons and Tesco.

Leading the upside were the miners on the back of Chinese stimulus speculation. The China Securities Journal said that the world's second-largest economy might speed up approvals for infrastructure investment to counteract a slowdown. The report said that the government has asked for project proposals by the summer instead of the end of the year in an effort to stimulate the Chinese economy.

Hopes that a stronger Chinese economy could lead to stronger demand for commodities helped the likes of Fresnillo, Antofagasta, Kazakhmys and Vedanta Resources higher todady.

Mobile phone networks giant Vodafone was in demand after saying it is expecting underlying growth in adjusted operating profit and stability in free cash flow in the current financial year.

High Street giant Marks and Spencer rose despite seeing profits drop by 15.7% in the year ended March 31st while slashing its short-term sales growth targets. Nevertheless, the full-year dividend was maintained at 17p per share with Chief Executive Marc Bolland saying that the company "performed well in a challenging economic environment".


FTSE 100 - Risers
Fresnillo (FRES) 1,397.00p +5.91%
Weir Group (WEIR) 1,584.00p +5.39%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,076.00p +4.47%
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 21.70p +4.33%
Kazakhmys (KAZ) 737.50p +4.31%
Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 1,585.00p +4.28%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 1,051.00p +4.27%
IMI (IMI) 918.50p +4.20%
Carnival (CCL) 2,072.00p +4.02%
Wolseley (WOS) 2,240.00p +3.90%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
Man Group (EMG) 78.10p -0.89%
Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 268.60p -0.67%
British Sky Broadcasting Group (BSY) 691.00p -0.65%
Land Securities Group (LAND) 717.00p -0.55%
ITV (ITV) 79.10p -0.50%
Hammerson (HMSO) 415.70p -0.38%
AstraZeneca (AZN) 2,645.50p -0.34%
Sage Group (SGE) 253.50p -0.08%
Tesco (TSCO) 310.95p -0.06%
Imperial Tobacco Group (IMT) 2,410.00p 0.00%

BC

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