FTSE 250 movers: Renishaw jumps; AI worries hit tech stocks

(Sharecast News) - FTSE 250 (MCX) 23,498.16 0.12%

Miners were among the top performers, with Hochschild, Atalaya Mining Copper and Pan African Resources making gains.

Pan African was also boosted after reporting that it expects interim earnings per share to surge as it benefits from the rally in the gold price and higher production of the yellow metal.

For the six months to the end of December 2025, the company now expects earnings per share of between 7.18 cents and 7.43 cents, versus a restated 2.50 cents in the same period a year earlier. This represents a jump of between 187% and 197%, respectively.

Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said: "A recovery in commodity prices after the recent volatility helped give the miners and energy stocks a lift. Oil was supported by US-Iran nuclear deal uncertainty, while gold moved back through $5,000 per ounce."

Engineer Renishaw rallied after saying it expected higher full-year revenue and profit growth despite a mixed market outlook after interim earnings jumped 11.5% on an adjusted basis boosted by strong contributions from the defence and semi-conductor sectors.

On the downside, wealth managers slumped after US wealth platform and custodian Altruist unveiled a new AI tax planning tool.

Altruist said the new capability helps advisors create fully personalised tax strategies for clients by reading and interpreting their 1040s, paystubs, account statements, meeting notes, emails, and custodial and CRM data, and applying deep tax logic to the analysis. "All of this is done within minutes," it said.

Susannah Streeter, chief investment strategist at Wealth Club said: "The worry is that this is just the tip of the iceberg and fresh efficiencies will be unleashed by AI to disrupt the financial advice and investment industry and reduce the fees which can be charged. As the AI cards are shuffled, the pile of potential losers is mounting up, and speculation about which sector will be hit next is rife."

Tech stocks also came under pressure again amid worries about AI disruption, with Kainos, Trustpilot, Bytes Technologies, Integrafin and Future all lower.

FTSE 250 - Risers

Renishaw (RSW) 4,075.00p 4.89% BlackRock World Mining Trust (BRWM) 971.00p 4.52% Vistry Group (VTY) 728.20p 4.18% Pan African Resources (PAF) 144.80p 4.17% Hochschild Mining (HOC) 717.50p 4.06% Travis Perkins (TPK) 708.50p 3.51% Marshalls (MSLH) 179.20p 3.34% Endeavour Mining (EDV) 4,574.00p 3.30% B&M European Value Retail S.A. (DI) (BME) 178.25p 3.03% Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 113.05p 2.77%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

GB Group (GBG) 213.50p -4.90% Hays (HAS) 46.60p -4.63% AJ Bell (AJB) 435.20p -4.52% Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT) 139.30p -4.06% Ocado Group (OCDO) 217.50p -4.02% Abrdn (ABDN) 210.60p -3.92% Quilter (QLT) 181.40p -3.92% Kainos Group (KNOS) 739.00p -3.84% Trustpilot Group (TRST) 149.10p -3.81% Diversified Energy Company (DI) (DEC) 940.00p -3.79%