FTSE 250 movers: Grafton warns of challenging backdrop, gold miners drop

Grafton Group paced losses on the second tier index after warning of a challenging backdrop in UK merchanting.

The builders´ merchant posted interim pre-tax profits up by 8% to £62.8m on revenue of £1.2bn, 13% higher from the first half of last year.

"Shares are up +11% over the last month but are still down -18% year-to-date and off by about 15% from the level just before Brexit vote. [...] Valuation is at a significant discount to where it had been trading over the last three years ahead of the Brexit vote," analysts at Canaccord Genuity said in a research note sent to clients.

Elsewhere, Restaurant Group shares fell as Citigroup downgraded its stance on the stock to ‘sell’ from ‘neutral’ and cut the price target to 320p from 350p.

Precious metals miners Polymetal, Centamin, Acacia Mining and Hochschild Mining were all weaker as gold futures drifted lower.

As of 1727 BST COMEX-traded gold futures for December delivery were edging lower by 0.31% to $1,312.60 an ounce.

Satellite services group Inmarsat dropped even as it said it had launched a bond issue of up to $600m.

The company announced the launch of an offering of around $550m convertible bonds due 2023, with an increase option of up to $50m