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FTSE 250 movers: Indivior dives on court ruling, Hochschild rides risk-off wave
London's FTSE 250 index finished lightly lower 0.33% on Friday, with the worst of the morning's losses rubbed out as the initial blows of the US-China trade battle were not as fearsome as feared.
Nevertheless global trade tensions were enough to sent traders scuttling into risk-off mode, pushing gold up to its highest level in over a month, which lifted Hochschild Mining to the top of the mid-cap leaderboard.
"The uncertainty surrounding the trade war has made gold more attractive," said market analyst David Madden at CMC Markets. "The talk that President Trump is considering vetoing the spending bill is also playing into the bullish move in the metal. Trade wars tend to be protracted, and this could make gold popular with investors in the near term."
Softcat was clawing back almost all of what was lost on the release of Wednesday's results. Analysts at UBS released a note late the day calling the numbers "very strong" and upgraded EPS for this year and next by 4-5%, and increased the target price to 700p from 600p.
Retailers were having a reasonable day on the back of Next's mixed set of results. Dunelm, Pets at Home, Dixons Carphone and Ted Baker were on the leaderboard. Investors were finding positives in the read-across for the wider retail sector.
Taking a look at Next, Jamie Constable at broker N+1Singer said: "The pricing environment 2019 on 2018 year will be 10% better by year end helped by FX," he noted, with "nothing like" the profit attrition in 2019 as 2018, with little or no decline in consumer real incomes in calendar 2018.
Indivior was down after warning of a potential "rapid and material loss" of sales from Suboxone Film, its main revenue-generating product, after a US court found New Jersey-based Alvogen's generic substitute of the drug did not infringe on its patents. Indivior said it believes that it has grounds to appeal and as Alvogen has not yet gained approval from the US drug regulator any launch would be "at-risk" before the appeal plays out.
Analysts at RBC Capital Markets said the loss in the courts is an obvious blow to Indivior and "could potentially leave the company more exposed to both an at risk launch and from future competitors", but saw "any negative share price reaction as likely being overdone against what will be 'reality' and a potential buying opportunity for investors".
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 6,932.45 -0.29%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 19,351.92 -0.22%
techMARK (TASX) 3,181.93 0.35%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 202.60p 6.58%
Softcat (SCT) 650.00p 6.56%
TalkTalk Telecom Group (TALK) 114.70p 5.42%
BCA Marketplace (BCA) 158.00p 4.36%
Dunelm Group (DNLM) 529.50p 3.93%
Pets at Home Group (PETS) 170.20p 3.84%
Provident Financial (PFG) 694.00p 3.40%
TI Fluid Systems (TIFS) 246.00p 3.36%
Dixons Carphone (DC.) 178.10p 2.83%
Ted Baker (TED) 2,626.00p 2.74%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Indivior (INDV) 384.50p -5.83%
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 269.50p -3.75%
VinaCapital Vietnam Opportunity Fund Ltd. (VOF) 348.75p -3.12%
On The Beach Group (OTB) 538.00p -3.06%
Saga (SAGA) 109.70p -3.01%
Jupiter European Opportunities Trust (JEO) 679.69p -2.62%
Ultra Electronics Holdings (ULE) 1,340.00p -2.62%
Wizz Air Holdings (WIZZ) 3,221.00p -2.51%
Essentra (ESNT) 441.80p -2.26%
Pagegroup (PAGE) 517.00p -2.18%