FTSE 250 movers: Booker gains on update; miners slump on China data

London’s FTSE 250 was down 0.6% to 17,847.58 in afternoon trade.

Budgens and Londis owner Booker Group was the standout gainer after it reported a jump in interim sales and profit as it hiked its dividend and expressed confidence in achieving its full-year expectations.

In the 24 weeks to 9 September, total sales were up 13% to £2.5bn, with pre-tax profit 9% higher at £81m.

Basic earnings per share were up 11% to 3.83p and the company lifted its interim dividend by 11% to 0.63p per share.

Capital & Counties was boosted by an upgrade to ‘outperform’ from ‘underperform’ by Credit Suisse, which also upped its target price on the stock to 290p from 200p. “Our concerns over London's new-build residential market remain, but we consider these are now more than fully reflected in CapCo's share price and continue to rate highly management's repositioning of Covent Garden.”

Countryside Properties, Bovis Homes, Savills and Galliford Try were in the black after the Royal Institution for Chartered Surveyors said surveyors reported an unexpected increase in house prices in the last three months as demand outstripped supply.

The headline balance of firms reporting that house prices have risen over the last three months increased to +17% in September from +13% in August and beating the City consensus, which had predicted a slide to +12%.

Tullow Oil gushed higher after Morgan Stanley lifted the stock to ‘overweight’, saying it was at an inflection point, close to turning free cash flow positive, with falling debt.

G4S gained ground as RBC Capital Markets upgraded the stock to ‘outperform’ from ‘sector perform’ and lifted the price target to 260p from 170p. It said it now sees value after the selloff in the shares and noted the company’s low UK exposure.

Evraz and Vedanta Resources were weaker as copper futures hit one-month lows following the release of weak Chinese trade data. Figures released earlier showed Chinese exports and imports in September missed expectations, with exports down 10% in dollar terms year-on-year and imports down 1.9%. Economists had been expecting a 3% decline in exports and a 1% rise in imports.

Mitie was on the back foot after RBC Capital Markets downgraded the stock to ‘sector perform’ from ‘outperform’ and slashed the price target to 195p from 310p. It said trading was likely to remain tough through 2017 and 2018, the balance sheet is increasingly stretched and there are few catalysts on the horizon.

Close Brothers and Hays were down as their stock went ex-dividend on Thursday.

Risers

Booker Group (BOK) 183.80p 4.67%
Capital & Counties Properties (CAPC) 277.20p 3.70%
Countryside Properties (CSP) 241.70p 2.81%
Savills (SVS) 723.00p 2.41%
Galliford Try (GFRD) 1,342.00p 2.05%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 269.60p 2.04%
Bovis Homes Group (BVS) 800.50p 2.04%
G4S (GFS) 234.90p 1.73%
Wetherspoon (J.D.) (JDW) 910.50p 1.73%
Assura (AGR) 59.35p 1.63%

Fallers

Close Brothers Group (CBG) 1,311.00p -5.62%
Evraz (EVR) 204.70p -5.54%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 618.50p -4.99%
Domino's Pizza Group (DOM) 338.20p -4.33%
Hays (HAS) 134.90p -4.33%
Allied Minds (ALM) 354.20p -4.01%
Mitie Group (MTO) 198.60p -3.78%
Brown (N.) Group (BWNG) 193.10p -3.64%
Aberdeen Asset Management (ADN) 326.50p -3.40%
Riverstone Energy Limited (RSE) 1,176.00p -3.21%