FTSE 250 movers: Ladbrokes left out of rebound by downgrade

The FTSE 250 was boosted 0.82% in afternoon trade on Friday as geopolitical tensions ebbed, with finance services firms and miners seeing the biggest gains at the beginning of the week in response.

Following last week’s ping-pong of threats between the White House and Pyongyang and subsequent jitters, equities rode higher on the back of the calmer waters around the Korean peninsula.

IP Group did well, rebounding almost 6% at one point during the session following share price falls during the previous week.

International Personal Finance was also among those boosted by improved risk appetite, with ship broker Clarkson also on the up, having reported a rise in pre-tax profits to £21.9m for the first six months of 2017.

Ladbrokes Coral found itself bringing up the rear in the afternoon, adversely affected by a Credit Suisse review of the gambling sector which included a downgrade for the bookmaker. The bank lowered its recommendation to ‘underperform’ from ‘neutral’, even as rival Paddy Power Betfair received an upgrade from the same analysts.

Real estate companies also took a hit on Monday, with Countrywide and Savills both featuring heavily towards the bottom of the FTSE 250, affected by gloomy forecasts from analysts at Barclays.

With the release of a variety of macro data as we approach the rest of the week, Monday’s trading may be as tranquil as it gets according to Spreadex analyst Connor Campbell.

Campbell said: “After last week’s macro-panic this Monday has been a palate cleanser, allowing the markets to readjust following a fairly hefty plunge. The rest of the week may not be so carefree. That’s because there is a string of key data to deal with, especially in the UK where a one-two-three punch of inflation, jobs and retail sales readings are released between Tuesday and Thursday.”

FTSE 250 - Risers

NMC Health (NMC) 2,278.00p 4.35%
BGEO Group (BGEO) 3,516.00p 3.66%
SIG (SHI) 181.80p 3.59%
CLS Holdings (CLI) 209.00p 3.47%
Polypipe Group (PLP) 383.00p 3.43%
IP Group (IPO) 144.00p 3.37%
TBC Bank Group (TBCG) 1,611.00p 3.27%
Aldermore Group (ALD) 222.80p 3.20%
FirstGroup (FGP) 116.10p 3.02%
Restaurant Group (RTN) 353.50p 2.91%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Carillion (CLLN) 54.90p -3.43%
UDG Healthcare Public Limited Company (UDG) 805.00p -2.66%
Savills (SVS) 868.50p -2.42%
Ultra Electronics Holdings (ULE) 1,909.00p -2.40%
Ladbrokes Coral Group (LCL) 116.40p -2.02%
Marshalls (MSLH) 389.50p -1.99%
Elementis (ELM) 272.30p -1.94%
Spirax-Sarco Engineering (SPX) 5,620.00p -1.32%
Evraz (EVR) 261.40p -1.06%
Caledonia Investments (CLDN) 2,796.00p -0.89%