FTSE 250 movers: Gold miner Hochschild leads mid-caps lower

The FTSE 250 retreated further away from its all-time high on Thursday, stung by Brexit worries and investor caution that it may be vulnerable to the reaction to Friday’s US non-farm payrolls report.

After business group's stressed the importance of immigration to government earlier in the week, comments from Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel inextricably linking freedom of movement and the single market were a blow to the domestically focused index.

"An apparent shift in UK politics under the wing of Teresa May towards an interventionist and anti-business agenda was not received well in markets," added analyst Jasper Lawler at CMC Markets.

"Weak corporate results and a degree of political uncertainty generated by Prime Minister Teresa May weighed on British stocks."

With the pound sent lower, a strong dollar and renewed US rate hike hopes combined to put pressure on gold, with the risk of strong US payrolls a further factor.

This decline in price of the yellow metal led to Hochschild Mining leading the fallers, with Acacia Mining and Centamin down but not as badly hit.

Homeware retailer Dunelm was down as its first quarter update painted a gloomy picture of recent trading. Like-for-like sales dropped 3.8%, against consensus forecasts for a 2.7% decline, as unseasonable weather was blamed for lower store footfall.

Noting that the shares' premium to the sector has narrowed in recent weeks, broker Canaccord said Dunelm's poor start to the year pushes the onus for delivering full year estimates onto the subsequent three quarters.

"This said, the reported LFL comparatives do weaken across the rest of the year however, and we reduced our FY17 LFL assumption to +2.0% in the wake of the prelims last month. We are therefore leaving our forecasts unchanged at this early stage of the year."

Fashion retailer Ted Baker was down ahead of its results next week, with its shares having given up 11% since early September as rivals report difficult trading conditions.

Going the other way fast was Tullow Oil as crude oil prices strengthened, while a positive note from Barclays provided a further fillip.

Analysts at the bank set a new 340p price target and said Tullow offered "attractive leverage to a steady improvement in oil prices", with the South Lokichar oil discoveries onshore Kenya provide an important component of the investment case, "particularly as recent improvements in the oil price and first oil from the TEN development chip away at investor anxiety about the balance sheet".

Specialist healthcare group BTG was another rapid riser as it lifted its revenue guidance for the year on the back of the weak pound.

BTG said that on a constant currency basis, it delivered double-digit revenue growth in the period, in line with its expectations, and the outlook for full-year underlying revenue growth is unchanged.

FTSE 250 - Risers

Tullow Oil (TLW) 277.10p 5.84%
BTG (BTG) 678.50p 4.87%
Aldermore Group (ALD) 192.00p 1.96%
Croda International (CRDA) 3,607.00p 1.38%
Smith (DS) (SMDS) 396.80p 1.30%
Victrex plc (VCT) 1,656.00p 1.22%
Fidelity China Special Situations (FCSS) 185.00p 1.09%
Tate & Lyle (TATE) 770.00p 1.05%
William Hill (WMH) 308.50p 0.98%
Aggreko (AGK) 975.50p 0.93%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Hochschild Mining (HOC) 247.60p -4.77%
Dunelm Group (DNLM) 823.50p -3.97%
Euromoney Institutional Investor (ERM) 1,049.00p -3.76%
Ted Baker (TED) 2,454.00p -3.46%
Countrywide (CWD) 209.10p -3.37%
Entertainment One Limited (ETO) 225.10p -3.22%
Restaurant Group (RTN) 369.20p -2.94%
Hansteen Holdings (HSTN) 114.10p -2.89%
Polypipe Group (PLP) 280.90p -2.87%
IP Group (IPO) 164.30p -2.72%