FTSE 250 movers: Travel stocks rally; Hammerson heads lower

London’s FTSE 250 was down 0.5% at 17,613.38 in afternoon trade on Thursday.

Hammerson was down as it emerged the shopping centre owner is set to be booted out of the FTSE 250 index.

Kainos also lost ground despite saying that results for the year to the end of March are set to be in line with consensus forecasts.

In an update for 1 April to date, the IT provider said trading remains resilient across its digital services and workday practice businesses, supported by long-term customer relationships and diversified revenues across customers, end markets and geographic regions.

Going the other way, travel-related stocks were the standout gainers amid hopes of a Covid-19 vaccine, with Carnival, SSP, easyJet, TUI and Wizz all sharply higher.

Outsourcer Capita was also in the black even as it said it had not received an offer from private equity firm CVC Capital Partners. This is Money had reported that CVC was eyeing up the outsourcer following an 80% slump in its share price so far this year.

FTSE 250 - Risers

Carnival (CCL) 1,151.00p 12.24%
SSP Group (SSPG) 262.40p 8.88%
easyJet (EZJ) 639.80p 8.33%
TUI AG Reg Shs (DI) (TUI) 347.10p 7.46%
Capita (CPI) 31.47p 7.41%
National Express Group (NEX) 122.30p 7.19%
Mitchells & Butlers (MAB) 172.00p 6.04%
AO World (AO.) 193.20p 5.69%
CLS Holdings (CLI) 207.50p 5.65%
Wizz Air Holdings (WIZZ) 3,792.00p 5.63%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Hammerson (HMSO) 272.25p -6.76%
Barr (A.G.) (BAG) 393.50p -6.31%
Energean (ENOG) 519.00p -5.12%
Greencoat UK Wind (UKW) 134.80p -4.67%
Pershing Square Holdings Ltd NPV (PSH) 2,095.00p -4.34%
Softcat (SCT) 1,369.00p -3.93%
Kainos Group (KNOS) 1,038.00p -3.89%
Computacenter (CCC) 2,174.00p -3.38%
Games Workshop Group (GAW) 8,905.00p -3.31%
Syncona Limited NPV (SYNC) 232.50p -2.92%