FTSE 250 movers: Kaz Minerals leaps but Domino's drops on overseas woes
London's FTSE 250 was up 0.38% at 20,629.05 in afternoon trade on Tuesday.
Copper miner Kaz Minerals was the top riser as copper prices bounced back amid talk of Chinese a stimulus package.
Ferrexpo also saw its shares jump after JP Morgan upgraded its rating of the commodity trading and mining firm to 'overweight' from 'neutral', citing attractive risk adjusted returns potential.
JP Morgan said that although cost inflation is being driven by higher commodity inputs such as diesel, electricity and consumables, it was "optimistic" with regard to H2 given growing structural preference for higher grade raw materials and a looser China policy.
Power generation firm Contour Global was boosted after reporting positive earnings progress since its November IPO.
The firm said that its profit before tax fell 34% for the first half of the year but confirmed that it was ahead of its plan to double earnings by 2022 as its EBIDTA rose 12% to $261.8m.
This increase in earnings was driven by higher earnings growth in both thermal and renewable earnings of 2% and 27% respectively.
At the other end of the scale Domino's Pizza saw its shares plummet after the takeaway giant reported that statutory profit fell 9.7% to £41.7m over the first half of the year after being dented by the cost of investing in Norway and Sweden and rising interest payments on company debt.
The firm's net debt increased to £182.1m from £61m last year.
Ultra Electronics, a firm operating in the defence & aerospace, security & cyber, transport and energy markets, saw its shares drop after being downgraded from 'buy' to 'hold' by broker Kepler Cheuvreux.
The company had released its H1 results on Monday, showing revenue dropping from £366.4m in 2017 to £350.5m and underlying operating profit falling 17% to £47.9m.
The broker was particularly concerned that Ultra Electronics' free cash flow "appeared to be under some pressure, as [capital expenditure] and working capital could rise".
Rotork declined even as the maker of industrial flow equipment reported a jump in first-half pre-tax profit as revenue and order intake grew on the back of larger orders and favourable market trends.
Synthomer was up after an upgrade to 'add' by Numis, while Ibstock benefited from Berenberg reaffirming its 'buy' rating on the stock.
Market Movers
FTSE 250 (MCX) 20,718.30 0.38%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Kaz Minerals (KAZ) 623.80p 5.23%
Ibstock (IBST) 243.53p 3.81%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 229.20p 3.62%
Millennium & Copthorne Hotels (MLC) 515.00p 3.52%
Contour Global (GLO) 236.00p 3.51%
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 170.00p 3.44%
Synthomer (SYNT) 549.00p 2.91%
Games Workshop Group (GAW) 3,165.00p 2.76%
Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 87.85p 2.57%
Premier Oil (PMO) 125.80p 2.53%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Domino's Pizza Group (DOM) 290.10p -8.77%
Ultra Electronics Holdings (ULE) 1,574.00p -7.36%
Capita (CPI) 122.75p -4.73%
Rotork (ROR) 339.80p -4.28%
Spire Healthcare Group (SPI) 187.60p -3.00%
Sophos Group (SOPH) 504.00p -2.61%
IWG (IWG) 232.30p -2.60%
NewRiver REIT (NRR) 268.93p -1.67%
Unite Group (UTG) 873.00p -1.52%
Equiniti Group (EQN) 206.50p -1.43%