FTSE 250 movers: PageGroup plummets, Electrocomponents climbs

London's FTSE 250 was down 0.96% at 19,234.77 in afternoon trade on Tuesday, as PageGroup led the index lower.

Electronic & Electrical Equipment

10,040.69

17:09 23/12/24

-0.38%

-38.53

Vesuvius

416.00p

16:40 23/12/24

1.09%

4.50p

The recruiter was under pressure after it warned over its annual profits, citing slow German growth, Brexit, the Sino-US trade spat and protests in Hong Kong.

With small-cap recruiter Robert Walters posting a drop in third-quarter UK profit, shares of industry peer Hays were also falling.

Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said: "Companies presented with a negative backdrop will think hard about their spending and that includes staff costs. The first step in a bleak situation is to normally hold off from replacing any staff who have moved on to another job."

"The second step is to make actual job cuts and it feels like we may be seeing the first small signs of the latter given talk of HSBC slashing 10,000 positions, HP reducing up to 16% of its workforce and British American Tobacco cutting 2,300 jobs."

Vesuvius dropped after analysts from RBC Capital Markets lowered their rating on the company's stock from 'top pick' to 'outperform', while Morgan Advanced Materials was in the red after the same broker dropped its recommendation from 'sector perform' to 'underperform'.

At the other end of the pitch, Electrocomponents topped the risers as it said like-for-like sales pushed up 5% in both the second quarter and the first half following a strong performance for its industrial arm.

Finally, airport catering and retail unit operator SSP Group edged higher after analysts at HSBC upgraded their recommendation for the stock from 'hold' to 'buy'.

Market Movers

FTSE 250 (MCX) 19,234.77 -0.96%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Electrocomponents (ECM) 619.00p 3.24%
Sanne Group (SNN) 521.00p 2.76%
Vivo Energy (VVO) 114.60p 2.32%
Restaurant Group (RTN) 138.10p 1.99%
Schroder Asia Pacific Fund (SDP) 435.00p 1.16%
BMO Global Smaller Companies (BGSC) 1,352.00p 1.05%
VinaCapital Vietnam Opportunity Fund Ltd. (VOF) 339.50p 1.04%
Fidelity China Special Situations (FCSS) 215.20p 1.03%
SSP Group (SSPG) 614.00p 0.99%
TBC Bank Group (TBCG) 1,200.00p 0.84%