FTSE 250 movers: Oil and gas shares on the rise as crude futures rebound

Oil and gas firms dominated the risers list on Friday as crude futures soared. Afren, Nostrum Oil & Gas, Soco International and EnQuest were all rising. West Texas futures were advancing 2.755% early in the day to $55.90 while Brent crude futures were increasing by 2.259% to $60.64.

Online firm Zoopla Property Group was also rising despite brokers tipping Rightmove as the digital real estate firm most likely to succeed in the face of new competition. Onthemarket is a new property portal to be released in January, which obliges agents to advertise on just two portals. This means they will have to remove ties to either Rightmove or Zoopla, according to Liberum. The broker said earlier in the week: “Rightmove is being picked as the one to keep and so will suffer less volatility."

The metals and minerals sector also seemed to be increasing as Centamin and Ferrexpo both advanced on Friday. This followed a trending rise in gold futures during the week.

Meanwhile, Serco Group was falling substantially on Friday amid news the City of London Police has found 'no evidence to support bringing charges against staff' on the Prisoner Escort Contract. Liberum reinstated it with a hold rating following the reports. The broker said: “The issue there is that there may have been 'controlling minds' i.e, corporate involvement in encouraging people to act fraudulently. An independent forensic audit has already been conducted by PWC and there has already been financial redress (£68m) with the MoJ.”

FTSE 250 - Risers
Afren (AFR) 47.69p +15.53%
Nostrum Oil & Gas (NOG) 408.00p +7.37%
Soco International (SIA) 304.90p +6.80%
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 54.40p +6.25%
Bodycote (BOY) 633.50p +5.23%
Zoopla Property Group (WI) (ZPLA) 204.90p +5.08%
EnQuest (ENQ) 40.52p +4.57%
esure Group (ESUR) 208.50p +4.51%
Supergroup (SGP) 867.00p +4.46%
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 50.00p +4.36%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
Serco Group (SRP) 148.30p -10.55%
Polymetal International (POLY) 565.00p -3.91%
Poundland Group (PLND) 315.00p -3.29%
Wood Group (John) (WG.) 597.50p -2.77%
Croda International (CRDA) 2,578.00p -2.64%
Bank of Georgia Holdings (BGEO) 1,936.00p -2.57%
Ashmore Group (ASHM) 277.20p -2.22%
Synergy Health (SYR) 2,030.00p -1.79%
Countrywide (CWD) 422.60p -1.70%
Victrex plc (VCT) 2,065.00p -1.62%