FTSE 250 movers: James Fisher sinks but precious metals miners sparkle
London's FTSE 250 was down 1.67% at 18,594.41 in afternoon trade on Friday, as James Fisher fell amid oil price uncertainty.
James Fisher & Sons, a provider of specialist services to the marine, oil and gas and other global, high assurance industries, fell farthest as oil prices were down on the week on concerns that the global market was oversupplied despite expectations that OPEC and its allies would agree to cut output next month.
CYBG dropped ahead of the release of its full year results next Tuesday, while Energean dipped despite stating that the company's Israeli developments were "on schedule" in an update on Thursday.
Communications technology provider Spirent Communications crept back down after rising a day earlier when it confirmed that its performance delivery was "on plan", with good momentum enjoyed in the third quarter.
Polymetal International was the top riser of the day, while fellow gold miner Centamin also shone after an upgrade to 'overweight' at Morgan Stanley, which said the company's Sukari gold mine in Egypt was "a quality asset".
"Investor positioning in gold is at its most bearish for the 18 years since we have data, and our strategy team found in a review of 36 [global emerging markets] funds that Centamin was a large underweight position. Any shift in sentiment could be positive for both the commodity and equity," said MS.
Asset manager Intermediate Capital Group continued to surge after it posted a 17% rise in first-half assets under management to €33.6bn on Thursday, with fundraising reaching a new high of €6.1bn.
Investor confidence was boosted as chairman Kevin Parry acquired a total of 10,216 ordinary shares in the company and Director Benoit Durteste purchased a further 50,000 ordinary shares.
Kier rallied as the construction company expressed confidence about meeting its full year 2019 expectations and said that its order books and development pipelines remain strong.
Investec climbed a day after reporting a "sound" interim operational performance amid a "challenging" operating environment caused by rising US interest rates, the threat of trade wars, concerns over global growth prospects, weak economic growth in South Africa, and Brexit-related uncertainty.
FTSE 250 - Risers
Polymetal International (POLY) 772.80p 4.77%
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 102.85p 4.71%
Intermediate Capital Group (ICP) 994.50p 4.63%
Kier Group (KIE) 860.00p 4.24%
TP ICAP (TCAP) 302.70p 3.63%
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 220.60p 3.08%
Investec (INVP) 500.40p 2.96%
On The Beach Group (OTB) 409.50p 2.50%
QinetiQ Group (QQ.) 276.70p 2.18%
HICL Infrastructure Company Ltd (HICL) 157.83p 1.96%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Fisher (James) & Sons (FSJ) 1,645.00p -5.46%
Energean Oil & Gas (ENOG) 601.00p -4.91%
Charter Court Financial Services Group (CCFS) 266.60p -4.10%
Grainger (GRI) 262.80p -3.67%
AA (AA.) 95.30p -3.58%
CYBG (CYBG) 253.80p -3.50%
Softcat (SCT) 625.00p -3.40%
Rank Group (RNK) 154.40p -3.26%
Stagecoach Group (SGC) 148.50p -3.26%
Spirent Communications (SPT) 117.40p -2.98%