FTSE 250 movers: DS Smith rallies on acquisition; JD Sports out of fashion

London's FTSE 250 was down 0.8% to 19,312.45 in afternoon trade.

Miners Evraz and Vedanta Resources gained ground as metals prices rallied on the back of a weaker dollar.

Packaging company DS Smith jumped higher as it reported a 31% rise in full-year pre-tax profit and announced the acquisition of an 80% stake in US packaging and paper producer Interstate Resources from Merpas Co for $920m.

Petra Diamonds clawed back some ground a day after warning over its full-year results, as Investec said it may need to raise fresh equity.

On the downside, shares in JD Sports were out of fashion as the retailer hinted at margin pressure and said it was on track to meet market expectations for the full year.

In an AGM trading update, the company said growth to date in like-for-like store sales and further significant growth in online sales have been in line with its expectations.

JD said it was not providing like-for-like sales figures in this update, pointing to the timing of Eid and the strong CY2016 comparative, which was influenced by the European Championships.

Sirius Minerals was also on the back foot despite saying it has made solid progress on its North Yorkshire project, while Wood Group fell as it reported weaker-than-expected first-half trading because of a large drop in projects and modifications work, especially in the North Sea.

Euromoney slipped as it said finance director Colin Jones had informed the board of his intention to retire by the summer of next year.

NEX Group and Tate & Lyle were weaker as their stock went ex-dividend.

Risers

Evraz (EVR) 205.80p 4.89%
Smith (DS) (SMDS) 464.90p 4.68%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 646.50p 4.27%
esure Group (ESUR) 304.40p 2.87%
OneSavings Bank (OSB) 380.00p 2.84%
Petra Diamonds Ltd.(DI) (PDL) 106.10p 2.51%
Aldermore Group (ALD) 219.20p 2.38%
Northgate (NTG) 455.00p 2.34%
Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 445.70p 1.97%
Sophos Group (SOPH) 451.50p 1.87%

Fallers

JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 367.70p -7.57%
Sirius Minerals (SXX) 31.40p -3.92%
Nex Group (NXG) 627.00p -3.32%
Amec Foster Wheeler (AMFW) 467.00p -3.27%
Polypipe Group (PLP) 373.00p -3.27%
Wood Group (John) (WG.) 641.00p -2.95%
Tate & Lyle (TATE) 677.00p -2.94%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 272.20p -2.79%
Polymetal International (POLY) 864.50p -2.59%
Euromoney Institutional Investor (ERM) 1,079.00p -2.53%