FTSE 250 movers: Miners lead climbers, REITs retreat

London's mid-cap shares were on the front foot on Friday, led by motor insurer Esure and a phalanx of commodities stocks.

The FTSE 250 index closed the week up almost 0.4% at just over 18,963 points.

Esure Group topped the leaderboard as it claimed to be in "full growth mode" as underlying profit surged 20% in 2016, with premiums ahead of expectations and barely any effect from the now infamous changes to the 'Ogden' rate.

Management said the motor and home insurer was "on track to deliver increased value to shareholders both in 2017 and beyond".

Among the basic resources stocks, oil stemming its recent declines was a boost to the sector, said analyst Mike van Dulken at Accendo Markets, which offered positive read-across to miners who were also benefiting from similar rebound by copper.

"A more hawkish ECB ahead of a likely Fed rate hike has also revived underlying bullishness, pointing major indices back towards their recent highs, as investors gear up for the US Jobs report, one of the last data points before the Fed pulls the trigger again next week."

Industrial metal miners Ferrexpo and Kaz Minerals were prominent on the mid-cap leaderboard alongside gold miners Centamin, Acacia Mining and Hochschild - even though the gold price continued to retreat.

Ahead of next week's risk events there were some suggestions of some traders exiting short trades, with some technical analysts saying the precious metal is much over-sold.

Shares in Amec Foster Wheeler were given a fillip when the engineer revealed it had won separate contracts in Brunei and Kuwait for undisclosed values.

The first contract is for five years with Brunei Shell Petroleum for the rejuvenation of assets in Brunei. There are two one-year options to extend, and includes Brunei Shell Petroleum's oil and gas assets in the South China Sea.

Aldermore shares are down 6.2% this morning, after private equity house AnaCap Financial Partners sold a £113.7m stake in the challenger bank at 220p a share.

AnaCap, which has also bought up Italian loans and French retail banking assets from Barclays in recent months, retains a 25% interest in Aldermore following the deal.

A Credit Suisse downgrade to an 'underperform' rating from 'neutral' put the brakes on Auto Trader shares as it expects new car sales to slow and put pressure on retailer industry profitability.

Analysts at the Swiss bank, who also reduced their target price to 360p from 390p, said they believed the current valuation "doesn't correctly reflect short-medium term risks around the cycle, with average revenue per retailer gains likely to become harder to obtain and longer term risks around autonomous vehicles".

Property developer Segro was a faller after it revealed the purchase of the remaining 50% stake it did not already own in the Airport Property Partnership (APP) joint venture from Aviva Group Entities for £365m.

The aim of the acquisition was to take advantage of the government’s recent decision to build a third runway at Heathrow Airport as Segro expects expansion in the "medium to long-term" for space around the airport.

Pub operator JD Wetherspoon dripped lower even as it forecast “slightly improved” trading for the current year, despite higher costs and weaker like-for-like sales as it attacked Wednesday's Budget as one “for dinner parties”.

In the six weeks to 5 March 2017, like-for-like sales increased by 2.7% and total sales decreased by 0.2%, Wetherspoon said.

FTSE 250 - Risers

esure Group (ESUR) 239.60p 7.69%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 254.60p 4.69%
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 145.30p 4.31%
Amec Foster Wheeler (AMFW) 487.10p 3.62%
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 161.90p 3.58%
Acacia Mining (ACA) 462.00p 3.38%
John Laing Group (JLG) 260.10p 3.21%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 236.70p 2.91%
Essentra (ESNT) 562.00p 2.74%
Kaz Minerals (KAZ) 460.00p 2.56%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Aldermore Group (ALD) 223.20p -7.00%
Auto Trader Group (AUTO) 380.60p -5.02%
SEGRO (SGRO) 474.80p -4.39%
Wetherspoon (J.D.) (JDW) 927.00p -3.94%
Ibstock (IBST) 204.40p -3.54%
IP Group (IPO) 157.50p -2.36%
Rank Group (RNK) 206.80p -1.99%
OneSavings Bank (OSB) 397.20p -1.76%
Derwent London (DLN) 2,711.00p -1.56%
Greene King (GNK) 673.00p -1.25%