FTSE 250 movers: KAZ blasted by brokers as Hikma soldiers on

London's second-tier index was down by 0.41% at 20,377.68 on Friday.

KAZ Minerals was the top faller of the afternoon's trade, seeing its shares plummet almost 15% after it was downgraded to 'neutral' and had its target price cut from 1,050p to 630p by analysts at Credit Suisse, while UBS slashed its share price target to 660p from 940p.

The former broker said KAZ's appeal had been its low-cost operations that drove its strong free cash flow and balance sheet, all of which have been "turned on its head" as a result of the $900m acquisition of the Baimskaya copper mine from a group of investors including Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich.

The development comes just a day after the copper miner proposed an interim dividend of 6 cents a share as pre-tax profits rose to $355m from $240m.

Gambling company Rank continued to see its shares slump after it recorded a 41% drop in full-year pre-tax profit in its results on Thursday.

Chief executive John O'Reilly, who joined after an April profit warning, had characterised the company's full-year results as "disappointing" in a statement alongside their release.

Cineworld was down on reports from Bloomberg that Amazon is in the running to acquire Landmark Theaters, vaulting the e-commerce colossus into the brick-and-mortar cinema industry. Landmark operates more than 50 cinemas in 27 US markets, including high-profile locations in New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Hochschild Mining also saw its shares dip, despite receiving a boost on Thursday when Numis had upgraded its recommendation to 'buy' with a target price of 210p, arguing that the mining firm's interim results were "strong and we expect full year operations to be at the better end of guidance, or above".

International specialist healthcare company BTG was the afternoon's biggest riser in what was a muted day for positive movement.

Elsewhere marine engineering services firm James Fisher & Sons, life sciences investor Syncona and infrastructure services provider Stobart also made some headway in afternoon trade.

Hikma Pharmaceuticals continued to rise after reporting strong first half results on Wednesday and was benefiting from being upgraded to 'add' by Peel Hunt on Thursday, with the broker also upping its target price to 1,950p.

Market Movers

FTSE 250 (MCX) 20,377.68 -0.41%

FTSE 250 - Risers

BTG (BTG) 523.50p 2.95%
Fisher (James) & Sons (FSJ) 1,820.00p 2.94%
Syncona Limited NPV (SYNC) 289.15p 2.90%
Stobart Group Ltd. (STOB) 234.50p 2.85%
Sophos Group (SOPH) 491.91p 2.82%
Contour Global (GLO) 244.00p 2.35%
Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 1,807.50p 1.83%
Clarkson (CKN) 2,655.00p 1.72%
Barr (A.G.) (BAG) 681.00p 1.64%
Vietnam Enterprise Investments (DI) (VEIL) 430.00p 1.42%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Kaz Minerals (KAZ) 482.20p -13.92%
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 153.25p -4.55%
IP Group (IPO) 119.40p -4.48%
AA (AA.) 111.95p -3.99%
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 102.20p -2.99%
Cineworld (CINE) 287.40 -2.91%
Indivior (INDV) 274.70p -2.59%
Rank Group (RNK) 166.60p -2.57%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 167.90p -2.41%
Balfour Beatty (BBY) 283.36p -2.29%