Sector movers: Diageo rises on Jose Cuervo speculation

Drinks giants Diageo and SABMiller were making decent gains on Monday afternoon, meaning that the beverages sector was at the top of the pile.Diageo is rumoured to be nearing the acquisition of a further stake in Mexican tequila maker Jose Cuervo. According to media reports, Diageo could be buying a majority stake in the spirits group from Mexico's Beckmann family at a price that values the firm at over $3bn."Many big [spirits] companies don't have tequila and are knocking at our door. Of course they would like to buy us, but the family is very close knit, very solid and we don't need to sell," said Juan Beckmann Vidal back in May 2011 (cited in the Telegraph).Diageo already distributes Jose Cuervo in North America and Europe, along with other well-known spirit brands such as Captain Morgan rum, Smirnoff vodka and Johnnie Walker whisky.Heading the other way were the banks with Lloyds, Barclays, HSBC and Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) registering moderate losses, tracking their European counterparts lower.Some of Europe's largest banks are already planning on returning the funds they got through the three-year LTROs (long-term refinancing operations) run by the European Central Bank (ECB) according to senior bankers cited in a front page piece in today's Financial Times (FT). RBS was making headlines today that it is looking to resume dividend payments to holders of its preference shareholders to signal its progress on the road to financial stability. The firm also announced this morning that it is to sell some of its Asia-Pacific businesses to fast-growing Malaysian outfit CIMB for £75m. Top performing sectors so far todayBeverages 11,468.40 +1.77%Technology Hardware & Equipment 812.41 +1.38%Tobacco 36,975.91 +1.31%Industrial Engineering 7,729.31 +0.88%Mining 20,288.45 +0.87%Bottom performing sectors so far todayBanks 3,844.30 -1.46%Financial Services 5,181.97 -0.87%Construction & Materials 3,504.83 -0.70%Real Estate Investment & Services 1,627.88 -0.61%Software & Computer Services 824.53 -0.60%BC