Sector movers: GKN boosts auto stocks, BP weighs on oil

A surge in the price of GKN gave the auto sector a boost on Tuesday, while cautious comments from BP weighed on oil and gas stocks.GKN's shares were up over 9% in afternoon trade after the aerospace and automotive engineer said that strength in its car parts Driveline division helped to offset the negative impact of currency movements on its bottom line.While sales dipped 1% to £3.83bn, pre-tax profit improved by 6% to £296m."We have continued to outperform our key markets and report good underlying financial results in spite of sterling's strength and some end market weakness - we expect these trends to be maintained in the second half," said Chief Executive Nigel Stein.With GKN by far the biggest stock in the UK-listed auto sector - with a market capitalisation of over £6bn - the automobiles and parts sector was the best performing category.Numis Securities lifted its recommendation for the aerospace and automotive engineer from 'add' to 'buy', after the company "plough[ed] through the currency headwinds" in its first half.In contrast, BP's stock was lower despite a better-than-expected set of second-quarter results as investors were concerned about the potential impact from Russian sanctions on business.Underlying replacement cost profit for the quarter of $3.6bn was higher than expectations of $3.4bn and 13% higher than the $3.2bn generated in the first quarter of 2014 as the impact of new projects ramped up.But with the conflict in Ukraine likely to lead to tougher international sanctions on Russia, the company warned that these would hurt its business in Russia and its 19.75% stake in Russia's state-owned oil firm Rosneft.BP, the second-largest UK-listed oil group behind Shell, was trading down 1.6% in afternoon trade. Premier Oil, Tullow Oil, BG Group and Faroe Petroleum were also trading in the red.Top performing sectors so far todayAutomobiles & Parts 8,753.72 +9.12%Forestry & Paper 11,643.84 +1.98%Construction & Materials 4,100.51 +1.75%Industrial Metals & Mining 1,207.77 +1.71%Banks 4,515.31 +1.42%Bottom performing sectors so far todayOil & Gas Producers 8,543.76 -0.38%Media 6,139.02 -0.05%Life Insurance 7,280.86 -0.04%BC