FTSE 250 movers: Drax and Pennon hit by political risk

Pennon GroupSharecast graphic / Josh White

National Grid

990.00p

16:49 03/12/24

-0.64%

-6.40p

Drax Group was struggling at the bottom of the pile on a down day for the second-tier index.

FTSE 100

8,359.41

17:10 03/12/24

n/a

FTSE 250

20,892.74

16:59 03/12/24

n/a

FTSE 350

4,607.59

16:59 03/12/24

n/a

FTSE All-Share

4,562.54

17:14 03/12/24

n/a

Gas, Water & Multiutilities

6,183.72

16:59 03/12/24

-0.14%

-8.70

Pennon Group

594.00p

17:09 03/12/24

-0.92%

-5.50p

Weighing on the electricity provider's shares was news overnight of the general elections to be held on 4 July, which was much sooner than had anticipated.

According to analysts at Citi that would likely result in a further delay to government bridging mechanism being pursued by the company.

The plan was that the mechanism would cover the period between the end of the current renewable schemes in 2027 and the beginning of the carbon capture and storage operations at its power station.

Nonetheless, it was water companies that faced the biggest risk of being turned into a political football ahead of the elections, Citi said.

Negative read across from the £7bn equity raise announced earlier in the session by National Grid was proving an additional headwind.

So too for the FTSE 250 more generally the slight ebbing in expectations for interest rate cuts in the near term, be they in the UK or US.

Market Movers

FTSE 250 (MCX) 20,650.26 -0.29%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 1,110.50p 13.43%
QinetiQ Group (QQ.) 420.20p 12.29%
AJ Bell (AJB) 406.50p 12.14%
Wizz Air Holdings (WIZZ) 2,126.00p 8.36%
Hill and Smith (HILS) 2,115.00p 8.02%
Tate & Lyle (TATE) 710.50p 4.95%
Keller Group (KLR) 1,356.00p 3.83%
CMC Markets (CMCX) 275.00p 3.77%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 170.00p 3.28%
Close Brothers Group (CBG) 472.80p 3.19%