Burberry, by far the largest stock in the personal goods sector, was making gains of nearly six per cent on Friday, giving the category a massive boost.

The British luxury brand surged today after it was revealed that the Chinese economy grew by more than expected in the second quarter. Burberry is a stock often sensitive to the economic outlook of China, a key growth market for the business, and shares have been weighed down by the recent slowdown in the world’s second-largest economy.

Chinese gross domestic product (GDP) growth was 1.8% in the second quarter, according to the latest data published by the Chinese statistics bureau, slightly ahead of the consensus estimate of 1.7%. Compared with the same period last year, growth expanded by 7.6%, in line with forecasts.

‘A growth figure of this size still breeds hope that the world’s second largest economy can lead the global recovery,’ said analyst Craig Erlam from Alpari. ‘The figure also gives hope that further monetary easing will be considered by the government. The slowdown has been very real in the Chinese economy and recent measures taken by the government appear to have done very little to change this.’

Top performing sectors so far today
Personal Goods 19,031.66 +4.82%
Industrial Metals & Mining 2,703.75 +3.47%
Fixed Line Telecommunications 2,605.97 +3.00%
Mining 17,544.78 +2.72%
Oil Equipment, Services & Distribution 23,083.15 +2.16%

Bottom performing sectors so far today
Electricity 8,879.09 -0.52%
Food & Drug Retailers 3,894.99 -0.24%
Construction & Materials 3,364.84 -0.13%

BC