The forestry and paper sector was rising higher on Friday with FTSE 250 paper and packaging firm Mondi making moderate gains.

The company, which employs 29,000 employees and managed 2.41m hectares of land, is due to release its third quarter interim management statement on Monday.

Shares were higher today despite the group warning in its half-yearly report in July that order books softened at the start of the period in the Europe & International division. The group also said that planned maintenance shuts at a number of its highly profitable European mills would have an impact on second half performance.

Last week, Credit Suisse downgraded the stock from neutral to underperform, after slashing its estimates for the sector, "reflecting near term softening demand and stagnating or reversing product prices partially offset by moderating input costs."

Meanwhile, industrial transportation stocks fell lower, with Clarkson, BBA Aviation and Stobart providing a drag.

Stobart reported its half-year figures on Wednesday and saw its shares drop 5%. Investec cut its target on the stock from 176p to 165p and highlighted the board's "broadly unchanged" outlook, saying that the word 'broadly' leaves some ambiguity. As such, Investec felt it prudent to lower its profit forecasts for the current year.

BC

Top performing sectors so far today
Industrial Metals & Mining 4,935.29 +2.06%
Forestry & Paper 5,270.43 +1.94%
Tobacco 33,880.28 +1.65%
Personal Goods 22,348.88 +1.58%
General Industrials 2,764.30 +1.45%

Bottom performing sectors so far today
Industrial Transportation 2,227.41 -2.42%
Life Insurance 4,068.35 -1.86%
Mobile Telecommunications 3,949.95 -1.65%
Insurance (non-life) 1,435.43 -1.60%
Construction & Materials 3,390.90 -1.54%

Related share prices
BBA Aviation (BBA) share price
Clarkson (CKN) share price
Stobart Group Ltd. (STOB) share price
Mondi (MNDI) share price