Sector movers: Beverage stocks pace gains

(ShareCast News) - Defensive issues took over from cyclicals, with beverage stocks climbing to the top of the leaderboard on the back of positive broker commentary.Analyst Charles Pick at Numis bumped up his recommendation on shares of AG Barr from 'hold' to 'add' ahead of the company's next set of interims, due out on 27 September.The figures were unlikely to "sparkle" but the August weather had been "good" and further news on its low/no sugar variants should be forthcoming, Pick told clients.Edward Munny at Jefferies also had some kind words for the sector, initiating coverage on the European beverages space, placing the likes of Diageo and Britivic at 'buy'.Munny upped his target on shares of the latter from 2,000p to 2,500p."At a time when global growth remains subdued, we see the European beverages sector offering visible structural growth," Munny wrote to clients. Oil equipment and services was at the bottom of the pile, as the International Energy Agency lowered its forecasts for global oil demand growth in 2016 and 2017.That sent Brent crude futures lower by 1.75% to $47.49 per barrel on the ICE.In other sector news, US-based Enterprise Products filed a lawsuit in Texas against Amec Foster Wheeler, claiming the company was to blame for cost overruns on a project.Steel stocks were also lower as analysts at Macquarie told clients Chinese steel manufacturers were set to become more competitive in the fourth quarter of 2016, to the detriment of those in India and Europe.In parallel, rebar futures traded on the Shanghai Futures Exchange fell by $3.90 to $339 a tonne overnight, as iron ore futures traded on the Dalian Commodity Exchange lost $1 to $59.0.