FTSE 250 movers: Commodity stocks drag, Travel issues up on reopening trade

London's second-tier index was only able to eke out the narrowest of gains at start of the week amid weakness in commodity-related stocks.

A barrage of key activity indicators published overnight in the People's Republic of China for the month of February left some economists scratching their heads after Beijing modified the methodology used for the data.

Furthermore, figures for Chinese fixed asset investment year-to-date printed below forecasts, although industrial production and retail sales were better-than-expected.

Against that backdrop, shares of Petrofac, Weir Group, and Ferrexpo were all lower.

In the case of Ferrexpo, the chief reason behind the share price slump was news that the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) had suspended the firm from competing for new awards in reaction to the SFO's January announcement of additional pleases by a former Petrofac employee, under the Bribery Act 2010, in relation to historic contract awards in the UAE in 2013 and 2014.

Marshalls was also on the back foot after analysts at Berenberg pointed out how the shares were now "trading on 28.1 [times 2021 price-to-earnings multiple], we struggle to see significant upside from the current share price."

Going the other way, gains for Trainline, Carnival, Cineworld and National Express all climbed, on hopes for a relatively prompt reopening of the UK economy.

The latest data available showed that the trend in the number of new Covid-19 cases in the UK had flattened.

Analysts at Pantheon Macroeconomics said the flat trend was because daily testing had in fact doubled as children returned to schools.

However, the test positivity rate among students remained "very low" and 36% of the population had now received at least one vaccine dose.

Market Movers

FTSE 250 (MCX) 21,487.65 -0.09%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Drax Group (DRX) 407.60p 8.69%
Hammerson (HMSO) 36.85p 5.56%
SSP Group (SSPG) 352.80p 4.56%
Meggitt (MGGT) 487.20p 3.92%
Indivior (INDV) 122.60p 3.20%
Trainline (TRN) 497.00p 3.11%
Avon Rubber (AVON) 3,015.00p 2.90%
Carnival (CCL) 1,745.00p 2.80%
Syncona Limited NPV (SYNC) 265.50p 2.71%
PureTech Health (PRTC) 419.00p 2.70%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Provident Financial (PFG) 192.60p -26.38%
Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 111.80p -16.85%
HGCapital Trust (HGT) 320.00p -7.11%
Playtech (PTEC) 426.10p -5.16%
Ascential (ASCL) 352.80p -4.91%
Marshalls (MSLH) 684.00p -4.40%
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 343.40p -3.27%
RHI Magnesita N.V. (DI) (RHIM) 3,984.00p -2.97%
Savills (SVS) 1,121.00p -2.94%
Weir Group (WEIR) 1,820.00p -2.86%