Life insurers were on the rise on Monday with sector giant Prudential making decent gains on the back of M&A chatter in the global industry.

Last week's rumours that AIA is considering a takeover of ING's Asian divisions for $6bn "reinforces the attraction of the region", according to analysts at RBS. The broker reiterated its buy rating on Prudential, saying that the stock is "well-placed, in our view, to benefit from these trends".

"With 55% of its 2012 new business profits expected to be generated in the region, Prudential's valuation appeal is closely linked to the outlook for Asia," RBS said. Prudential's shares were up nearly 3%, while sector peer Standard Life was gaining 2%.

The industrial engineering sector was out of favour in afternoon trade, with heavyweight constituents IMI and Weir providing a drag. The peers were the two worst performing stocks on the FTSE 100 today after each firm suffered downgrades from brokers.

UBS downgraded IMI from buy to neutral, saying it "can't get excited" over the group's growth prospects. "We still like IMI's self-help story and balance sheet optionality but after the disappointment over Q3 growth, at least versus our expectations, combined with a recently buoyant share price we find it difficult to remain bullish on the stock," UBS said.

Meanwhile, Weir fell after JP Morgan Cazenove cut its rating from overweight to neutral, warned that demand could be affected by low prices of natural gas.

Top performing sectors so far today
Life Insurance 4,310.04 +2.14%
Technology Hardware & Equipment 756.52 +2.14%
Automobiles & Parts 5,045.55 +1.94%
Aerospace and Defence 3,545.06 +1.89%
Electronic & Electrical Equipment 2,986.54 +1.47%

Bottom performing sectors so far today
Industrial Engineering 7,271.25 -1.65%
Electricity 7,844.71 -1.35%
Personal Goods 20,956.64 -1.09%
Household Goods & Home Construction 6,642.58 -1.05%
Gas, Water & Multiutilities 4,536.05 -0.55%

Related share prices
Prudential (PRU) share price
IMI (IMI) share price
Weir Group (WEIR) share price
Standard Life (SL.) share price