London’s FTSE 250 was 3% lower at 19,486.03 9 in afternoon trade on Friday.
Gold miner Petropavlovsk – which has operations in Russia – was the worst performer on the index.
Government contractor Mitie was weaker after the UK’s competition regulator launched a probe into the company over possible law breaches involving contracts for immigrant removal centres.
On the upside, Morgan Advanced Materials surged after saying it swung to a full-year pre-tax profit as demand recovered strongly across the global economy. In the year to 31 December 2021, the group swung to a statutory pre-tax profit of £104.3m from a loss of £13.1m the year before, with revenues up 4.4% at £950.5m.
Gold miners Hochschild and Centamin shone as gold prices benefited from safe haven demand.
Hammerson rose after the retail property owner reported an increase in full-year adjusted earnings as the easing of Covid restrictions saw a rebound of footfall to its shopping centres.
FTSE 250 – Risers
Morgan Advanced Materials (MGAM) 315.00p 12.30%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 122.20p 4.98%
ICG Enterprise Trust (ICGT) 1,110.00p 4.32%
Drax Group (DRX) 672.00p 3.31%
QinetiQ Group (QQ.) 307.20p 2.20%
Centrica (CNA) 74.14p 2.18%
Pennon Group (PNN) 1,027.00p 1.78%
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 101.75p 1.55%
Playtech (PTEC) 600.50p 0.92%
Hammerson (HMSO) 34.86p 0.69%
FTSE 250 – Fallers
Petropavlovsk (POG) 1.48p -17.78%
TBC Bank Group (TBCG) 961.00p -13.89%
Auction Technology Group (ATG) 811.00p -13.72%
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 126.50p -11.97%
Pagegroup (PAGE) 461.20p -10.53%
Mitie Group (MTO) 48.00p -9.43%
Provident Financial (PFG) 254.20p -8.95%
Weir Group (WEIR) 1,447.00p -8.59%
Watches of Switzerland Group (WOSG) 1,014.00p -8.48%
Oxford Instruments (OXIG) 2,315.00p -8.13%
