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London’s FTSE 250 was up 0.6% at 21,817.41 in afternoon trade on Wednesday.
South America-focused miner Hochschild Mining surged to the top of the index as it said higher precious metals prices helped it to double annual profits. The company said pre-tax profits rose to $76.8m from $38.4m on a 7% increase in revenue to $755.7m.
Hedge fund Man Group was boosted by an upgrade at Exane, while Diploma was higher after an upgrade to ‘add’ by Peel Hunt.
Travelex owner Finablr was in the green after saying that the company’s independent directors have continued “urgently” to seek further information from the family of founder B.R. Shetty about who controls its shares.
On the downside, Plus500 tanked as Canaccord Genuity recommended investors take advantage of recent share price strength and sell the stock.
Elsewhere, Royal Mail was weaker after Liberum reiterated its ‘sell’ recommendation on the stock and slashed the price target to 120p from 175p. It said that management openly questioning the achievability of its 2024 targets just nine months after its strategy launch is “hardly encouraging”.
Elementis was down after an initiation at ‘hold’ by Peel Hunt and Bodycote was knocked lower by a downgrade to ‘underweight’ at Morgan Stanley.
FTSE 250 – Risers
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 178.00p 10.90%
Man Group (EMG) 160.10p 7.56%
Finablr (FIN) 79.05p 5.26%
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 142.75p 4.35%
Fresnillo (FRES) 716.00p 4.07%
William Hill (WMH) 185.75p 2.82%
Restaurant Group (RTN) 133.90p 2.76%
Diploma (DPLM) 2,096.00p 2.75%
AJ Bell (AJB) 395.00p 2.33%
Countryside Properties (CSP) 530.00p 2.32%
FTSE 250 – Fallers
Plus500 Ltd (DI) (PLUS) 834.00p -4.01%
Royal Mail (RMG) 173.65p -3.21%
Galliford Try (GFRD) 170.00p -3.13%
Elementis (ELM) 118.00p -3.04%
Cairn Energy (CNE) 171.50p -2.45%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 41.58p -2.16%
Bodycote (BOY) 854.00p -2.06%
PPHE Hotel Group Ltd (PPH) 2,080.00p -1.89%
Hilton Food Group (HFG) 1,050.00p -1.87%
Victrex plc (VCT) 2,242.00p -1.84%
