FTSE 250 movers: Miners and energy stocks rally; Wizz Air crashes

London’s FTSE 250 index was down 0.2% at 17,101.89 just after 1400 BST, underperforming the broader market.

Miners were firmly on the front foot as metals prices advanced and the sector got a boost from an upbeat note by Morgan Stanley. The bank upgraded its stance on the European metals and mining sector to ‘attractive’ from ‘in line’.

It said stable data from China in the last few months with a potential uplift from recent financial and administrative stimulus policies should increase conviction that the 19% commodity price uplift by 2017 in the bank’s base case deck is achievable.

Vedanta Resources, Kaz Minerals and Evraz were standout gainers.

Energy stocks also put in a solid performance as oil prices resumed their upward trajectory after surging on Tuesday as the American Petroleum Institute reported a weekly US crude stockpile draw of 1.2m barrels.

Tullow Oil, Premier Oil and Ophir Energy racked up healthy gains.

On the downside, pharmaceuticals group BTG was firmly lower for the second day in a row. On Tuesday, the company said it expects its full-year revenue to be in the lower half of its guidance range, as interest in one of its treatments was yet to translate into sales growth.

Shares in budget airline Wizz Air crashed in line with the rest of the sector as rising oil prices drove up fuel costs. A downgrade of the European airlines sector by Credit Suisse to ‘benchmark’ from ‘overweight’ also weighed.

“We can see the close correlation between airlines and the oil price, with much of their recent outperformance resulting from the renewed weakness in the oil price,” the bank said.

Risers

Vedanta Resources (VED) 519.00p +16.24%

Tullow Oil (TLW) 250.70p +12.37%

Premier Oil (PMO) 92.00p +10.44%

Kaz Minerals (KAZ) 119.40p +9.64%

Evraz (EVR) 89.50p +9.55%

Rotork (ROR) 187.00p +6.92%

Ophir Energy (OPHR) 105.00p +5.95%

Drax Group (DRX) 263.70p +5.48%

Hunting (HTG) 465.40p +5.37%

Weir Group (WEIR) 1,387.00p +5.24%

Fallers

BTG (BTG) 561.50p -6.57%

Wizz Air Holdings (WIZZ) 1,906.00p -4.37%

Foxtons Group (FOXT) 230.10p -4.12%

Man Group (EMG) 158.40p -3.41%

Rightmove (RMV) 3,630.00p -3.33%

Bellway (BWY) 2,444.00p -3.13%

Betfair Group (BET) 3,165.00p -3.09%

B&M European Value Retail S.A. (DI) (BME) 329.60p -3.06%

Dignity (DTY) 2,294.00p -2.88%

Hays (HAS) 151.10p -2.77%