Sector movers: Insurers rise, retailers fall

The life insurance sector is being boosted higher by the blue chips today, after Resolution announced a share repurchase.UK insurance buyout firm Resolution was the pick of the bunch today, after announcing its plans to return £500m of excess cash to shareholders. Citi has reiterated its 'buy' recommendation on the stock, saying that - given lower asset and debt leverage - "the Resolution business should be at a premium [to UK peers] given potentially lower cost of capital."Sector peers Legal & General, Admiral and Standard Life are also on the rise. The food and drug retailing sector is the worst performing sector, driven lower by disappointing sales figures.May retail sales were down by 2.1% on a like-for-like basis from the same month last year, new figures from the British Retail Council show, demonstrating the fragility of consumer sentiment in Britain. Costa Coffee owner Whitbread, high street group Marks & Spencer and supermarket chains Sainsbury, Morrison and Tesco are heading lower on the FTSE 100. ---BCTop performing sectors so far todayForestry & Paper 6,629.77 +2.07%Electricity 8,655.84 +1.95%Life Insurance 4,429.20 +1.52%Gas, Water & Multiutilities 4,618.66 +1.38%Industrial Metals & Mining 7,828.48 +1.26%Bottom performing sectors so far todayFood & Drug Retailers 4,835.06 -0.88%Oil Equipment, Services & Distribution 25,242.94 -0.62%Technology Hardware & Equipment 756.43 -0.57%Industrial Transportation 2,600.52 -0.52%Aerospace and Defence 3,345.57 -0.34%