Housebuilders were among the worst performing stocks on the FTSE 250 on Tuesday afternoon as rate-hike speculation continued to dominate sentiment. Data released earlier in the session showed that UK construction activity reached a seven-month high in August.Redrow was even in the red despite beating expectations with a 91% jump in annual pre-tax profits to £133m, compared with the consensus forecast of £122m. However, the stock had closed at a four-month high of 283p on Monday which could have prompted investors to take profits.Others housebuilders including Crest Nicholson, Taylor Wimpey and Bellway were also out of favour.Materials testing group Exova was a high riser as the stock rebounded after some heavy falls over the last few days. Maiden interim results from the laboratory testing company on Friday showed that losses widen significantly in the first half.Precious metals producer Polymetal was lower as investors gave a cool reaction to plans to re-prioritise its project pipeline. Following the acquisition of the large Kazakh gold deposit, Kyzyl, earlier in the year, Polymetal has now decided to slow development work at two projects and terminate the Albazino expansion.Other miners were mixed with Vedanta Resources and Centamin registering decent gains and Ferrexpo and Evraz in the red.FTSE 250 - RisersExova Group (EXO) 187.50p +3.99%Vedanta Resources (VED) 1,052.00p +3.85%Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 128.80p +2.63%Tate & Lyle (TATE) 696.00p +2.35%Serco Group (SRP) 317.50p +2.29%Wetherspoon (J.D.) (JDW) 757.50p +2.09%Domino Printing Sciences (DNO) 587.50p +2.00%Centamin (DI) (CEY) 65.70p +1.55%RPS Group (RPS) 286.20p +1.49%Brown (N.) Group (BWNG) 443.60p +1.39%FTSE 250 - FallersEvraz (EVR) 107.70p -3.67%Redrow (RDW) 272.50p -3.02%Ferrexpo (FXPO) 128.00p -2.96%Oxford Instruments (OXIG) 1,134.00p -2.91%Crest Nicholson Holdings (CRST) 349.60p -2.89%COLT Group SA (COLT) 142.20p -2.80%Galliford Try (GFRD) 1,270.00p -2.61%Aveva Group (AVV) 2,055.00p -2.51%CSR (CSR) 776.00p -2.39%Unite Group (UTG) 439.30p -2.38%BC