FTSE 250 movers: Carillion slumps while NMC Health tops risers
The FTSE 250 was down 0.20% in afternoon trading on Wednesday, with Carillion suffering from short selling on its stock.
The construction services group was down almost 10% late in the day as London stocks were mostly flat, with the pound hitting an eight-year low against the euro to 1.0863.
Property investment firm Capital & Counties was also trading lower after a Bloomberg survey which showed a majority of economists reckon house price growth will be flat due to Brexit uncertainty in the coming years.
Convenience food group Greencore and online supermarket Ocado were both among the poorer performers also as Asda owner Walmart said it was partnering with Google to offer voice-assisted shopping.
NMC Health led the index’s better performers, pushing nearly 5% higher after it reported improved revenues of 34% for the first six months of the year.
Engineering firm Meggitt was boosted after its recommendation was lifted to ‘buy’ by Jefferies, while its 12-month target price was raised to 600p from 500p.
Several mining stocks were up as commodities such as oil and gas saw gains during trading. Among these were Acacia Mining and Evraz, while Vedanta Resources had the added boost of a strong quarterly earnings report.
FTSE 250 - Risers
NMC Health (NMC) 2,540.00p 4.96%
Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 1,246.00p 4.88%
Evraz (EVR) 282.20p 4.13%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 802.50p 3.28%
Acacia Mining (ACA) 201.30p 3.02%
Vesuvius (VSVS) 572.50p 2.97%
Meggitt (MGGT) 512.00p 2.91%
Fisher (James) & Sons (FSJ) 1,544.00p 2.46%
Essentra (ESNT) 544.00p 2.45%
Hansteen Holdings (HSTN) 129.80p 2.37%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Carillion (CLLN) 42.96p -10.57%
Greencore Group (GNC) 208.50p -4.49%
Auto Trader Group (AUTO) 344.20p -3.26%
Capital & Counties Properties (CAPC) 263.60p -2.19%
Balfour Beatty (BBY) 273.10p -2.11%
Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 433.00p -2.10%
IP Group (IPO) 125.10p -2.04%
Dixons Carphone (DC.) 237.00p -2.03%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 284.20p -2.00%
Moneysupermarket.com Group (MONY) 317.80p -1.46%