FTSE 250 movers: Aston Martin stalls, Tullow recovers

London's FTSE 250 was 0.60% lower at 20,796.68 in afternoon trade on Tuesday, with Aston Martin Lagonda leading the index downward.

Hunting followed close behind as it was knocked lower by a downgrade to ‘neutral’ at Credit Suisse due to falling US shale activity levels and disappointing results from internationally-exposed divisions.

Senior dropped, losing some of the gains it had racked up on Monday when the engineering firm had confirmed it was considering a sale of its aerostructure unit after recent speculation.

At the other end of the scales, Tullow Oil gushed higher, having suffered heavy losses in the previous session after cutting production forecasts, suspending its dividend and announcing the exit of its chief executive.

The partial recovery came even as Canaccord analysts downgraded the stock to 'hold' and slashed their price target from 220.0p to 60.0p, adding that they anticipated a dramatic reduction in capital expenditures, credit maturity extensions and asset sales following Tullow's "disastrous" update.

Computacenter climbed after saying that results for 2019 would be "well ahead" of current market expectations in terms of profitability and earnings per share.

Finally, Bodycote was also in the green after UBS analysts hiked their rating of the stock from 'neutral' to 'buy', while Virgin Money rose after JPMorgan boosted its target price from 150p to 160p.

Market Movers

FTSE 250 (MCX) 20,796.68 -0.60%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Tullow Oil (TLW) 44.85p 12.29%
Computacenter (CCC) 1,618.00p 5.54%
Bodycote (BOY) 889.50p 3.13%
Equiniti Group (EQN) 204.20p 2.72%
Virgin Money UK (VMUK) 180.05p 2.68%
AJ Bell (AJB) 407.50p 2.00%
PureTech Health (PRTC) 259.00p 1.97%
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 146.55p 1.88%
Royal Mail (RMG) 225.50p 1.71%
Pets at Home Group (PETS) 265.80p 1.61%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings (AML) 552.60p -4.72%
Senior (SNR) 183.10p -3.83%
Hunting (HTG) 377.00p -3.23%
Quilter (QLT) 147.00p -3.23%
Micro Focus International (MCRO) 1,071.40p -2.85%
Stagecoach Group (SGC) 129.70p -2.77%
TI Fluid Systems (TIFS) 230.50p -2.74%
Capital & Counties Properties (CAPC) 254.90p -2.64%
IP Group (IPO) 60.30p -2.58%
Sirius Minerals (SXX) 3.46p -2.54%