Construction and materials stocks were making strong gains on Thursday afternoon after some decent economic data from the US boosted the outlook for demand.

American jobless claims and a key manufacturing survey came in better than forecasts today, sending London's benchmark index up over 1.0%. Meanwhile, the Conference Board's composite index of leading indicators increased by 0.5% in December, better than the 0.4% rise expected.

New York's S&P 500 topped 1,500 following the news, the first time it has reached that level since 2007.

"All three releases have fuelled hopes for a strong recovery in the US allied with growing optimism that US lawmakers do have the will to agree on spending cuts and raise the debt ceiling without playing the same game of brinkmanship they participated in before the end of 2012," said market strategist Ishaq Siddiqi from ETX Capital.

Irish building materials giant CRH was among the high risers in the construction sector today, trading 5.18% higher at 1,340p before the close.

The company, with a market capitalisation of nearly £10bn, is highly exposed to the US economy, with just under 50% of its first-half sales coming from the Americas region (which grew by 21% during the period).

Building and engineering products group Alumasc was also up, trading 3.54% higher at 102.5p. North American sales accounted for just under a 10th of Alumasc's turnover in its last financial year.

FTSE 250 infrastructure group Balfour Beatty edged higher (+0.1%) after saying today that it has formed a consortium bid with Transfield Services for the maintenance of highways along Australia's east coast.

AIM-listed property developer Henry Boot rose 0.8% despite saying that 2012 revenues would be around £100m, down from £114.6m previously. Nevertheless, profits would be in line with forecasts.

Small-cap glass fibre insulation firm Sugerglass Holdings was also a high riser today, continuing its recent rise. Shares were up 6.8% at 5.9p this afternoon and now stand 24% higher than where they were last month, despite the company saying last week that market conditions in the UK are "extremely challenging and remain difficult to predict".


Top performing sectors so far today
Construction & Materials 3,709.41 +3.63%
Mobile Telecommunications 3,945.23 +3.29%
Life Insurance 5,362.74 +1.59%
Travel & Leisure 5,600.07 +1.54%
Mining 20,117.44 +1.46%

Bottom performing sectors so far today
Forestry & Paper 7,744.61 -0.42%
Industrial Transportation 2,460.55 -0.40%
Fixed Line Telecommunications 2,926.58 -0.38%
Oil Equipment, Services & Distribution 25,776.44 -0.27%
Food & Drug Retailers 4,255.34 -0.01%

BC

Related share prices
Balfour Beatty (BBY) share price
Alumasc Group (ALU) share price
Henry Boot (BHY) share price
CRH (CRH) share price
Superglass Holdings (SPGH) share price