FTSE 250 movers: Ocado, financial stocks pull mid-tier index lower

Ocado GroupSharecast graphic / Josh White

The FTSE 250 was trading 0.4% lower on Tuesday afternoon as gains in the mining and housebuilding sectors were outweighed by heavy falls from Ocado and a bunch of financial stocks.

Ocado was down 4% as shares continued to feel some selling pressure. The stock, which is down 50% on last year on the back of an underwhelming rollout of its robot-operated warehouses, had received a little boost in mid-July after the online grocer raised the full-year profit margin targets for its tech arm. However, the positive sentiment has proved short-lived, with the shares having now fallen 18% in little under four weeks.

Also lower were financial stocks with Close Brothers Group, SDCL Energy Efficiency Income Trust, GCP Infrastructure Investments, XPS Pensions and Rathbones all among the top 10 fallers on the second-tier index.

Among the risers was Redrow as it counts down its final few days as a single entity ahead of its impending merger with FTSE 100 housebuilder Barratt Developments. The companies have announced that they would push ahead with their tie-up without the explicit approval from the competition regulator, and reported on Tuesday afternoon they have received court sign-off on the deal, meaning Redrow will officially be deleted from the FTSE 250 on Thursday.

Precious metal stocks were also performing well with Endeavour, Hoshschild and Centamin putting decent gains as the price of gold advanced 1% to $2,566.60 an ounce as the US dollar continues its recent retreat.

Wood Group edged higher after the engineering firm backed its outlook for this year and the next despite swinging to an operating loss in the first half as revenue fell. Also higher was Serco Group after RBC Capital Markets reiterated its 'outperform' rating, saying the essential public services provider's strong execution and prospects are currently "underappreciated" by the market.

FTSE 250 - Risers

Endeavour Mining (EDV) 1,662.00p 4.53%
Redrow (RDW) 793.50p 4.34%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 185.60p 3.69%
Safestore Holdings (SAFE) 858.50p 2.08%
Kainos Group (KNOS) 1,092.00p 2.06%
Baillie Gifford Japan Trust (BGFD) 738.00p 1.93%
Genuit Group (GEN) 462.00p 1.87%
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 128.40p 1.66%
Bytes Technology Group (BYIT) 483.80p 1.43%
Ibstock (IBST) 185.40p 1.42%