FTSE 250 movers: Acacia leads miner charge as Card Factory slumps
The FTSE 250 was up 0.36% in afternoon trading on Wednesday as the pound fell, with mining companies leading the charge.
Acacia Mining, Ferrexpo and Kaz Minerals were all among the top five stocks in the index after the former saw its target price increased to 230p by JPMorgan. Gold prices were up 0.52% to boost the firms also.
Virgin Money was up 6% after analysts at KBW lifted their recommendation to ‘outperform’, and was only outpaced in the index by the AA, whose stock was boosted almost 8% following sell-offs on Tuesday related to its appointment of Simon Breakwell as CEO.
Breakwell arrives having spent time on the boards of both Expedia and Uber in recent years.
On the other hand, Card Factory continued to lose ground after falling on Tuesday in response to the company reporting declining profits as a result of forex movements and investments.
Contrary to the movements of others in its sector, Hochschild Mining was down almost 4% to lead the fallers.
Dairy Crest was hit by a downgrade from Investec which led to its share price falling, while PZ Cussons slipped as it said it remains on track to deliver full-year growth in operating profits but sounded a cautious note by saying trading conditions in most markets remain tough.
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,320.27 0.47%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 19,579.69 0.39%
techMARK (TASX) 3,445.19 0.09%
FTSE 100 - Risers
Pearson (PSON) 613.00p 5.06%
Prudential (PRU) 1,769.50p 3.09%
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 269.50p 2.94%
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 66.77p 2.74%
Next (NXT) 5,255.00p 2.34%
easyJet (EZJ) 1,227.00p 2.34%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 734.00p 2.17%
Anglo American (AAL) 1,313.00p 2.10%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 930.00p 2.03%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 595.00p 1.88%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 7,310.00p -2.21%
United Utilities Group (UU.) 839.50p -1.70%
SSE (SSE) 1,395.00p -1.48%
TUI AG Reg Shs (DI) (TUI) 1,266.00p -1.40%
National Grid (NG.) 930.50p -1.35%
Fresnillo (FRES) 1,403.00p -1.34%
Centrica (CNA) 187.30p -1.21%
Severn Trent (SVT) 2,159.00p -1.14%
WPP (WPP) 1,383.00p -1.14%
Direct Line Insurance Group (DLG) 357.50p -1.05%
FTSE 250 - Risers
AA (AA.) 169.80p 8.15%
Virgin Money Holdings (UK) (VM.) 285.90p 5.89%
Acacia Mining (ACA) 190.30p 4.56%
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 285.80p 4.12%
Dixons Carphone (DC.) 186.00p 3.74%
Equiniti Group (EQN) 299.30p 3.53%
Kaz Minerals (KAZ) 742.00p 3.49%
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 142.20p 3.04%
Stobart Group Ltd. (STOB) 271.20p 3.04%
Crest Nicholson Holdings (CRST) 525.50p 3.04%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 223.70p -3.87%
Dairy Crest Group (DCG) 601.00p -3.84%
Card Factory (CARD) 280.10p -3.41%
Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 113.90p -2.98%
Spire Healthcare Group (SPI) 221.00p -2.30%
Redefine International (RDI) 37.92p -2.07%
PZ Cussons (PZC) 323.30p -1.85%
Sanne Group (SNN) 752.50p -1.83%
Softcat (SCT) 402.10p -1.66%
QinetiQ Group (QQ.) 223.20p -1.63%