FTSE 250 movers: Kaz, Vedanta rally; Allied Minds tumbles

London's FTSE 250 was up 0.3% to 19,070.28 in afternoon trade.

Kaz Minerals and Vedanta Resources were among the top gainers as copper prices advanced.

CLS Holdings was on the front foot after it exchanged contracts for the unconditional sale of the site of its proposed mixed-used Vauxhall Square development to Chinese property developer R&F Properties for a gross consideration of £157.77m, with the proceeds set to be reinvested in its core business.

Bovis Homes was trading higher after Galliford Try said it has abandoned its plans to make a formal bid for the rival housebuilder and after it announced the appointment of former Galliford boss Greg Fitzgerald as its new chief executive.

Amec Foster Wheeler rose after Wood Group said it had found another £40m in annual savings as part of the £2.2bn agreed merger with the company.

Also on Wednesday, Bernstein initiated coverage of the stock at 'market perform', saying Wood Group's bailout is a blessing from above and "an unexpected lifeline to a damaged company".

The same Bernstein note lifted Hunting, as it started coverage of the oil services company at 'outperform'.

"Hunting is the UK way to capture US shale rebound and a play on shale's learning curve," the bank said.

On the downside, Allied Minds tanked after saying it will discontinue funding at seven subsidiaries for which it expects to write down the value in its 2016 results.

Petrofac gushed lower after Deutsche Bank downgraded the stock to 'sell' from 'hold'' and slashed the price target to 775p from 900p.

"We find the valuation looks stretched and consensus implies an improbable pickup in awards and/or win rate," the bank said.

Retirement housebuilder McCarthy & Stone slumped after it bumped up its interim dividend 80% but reported a 42% drop in underlying profits for the first half of the year.

Risers

Kaz Minerals (KAZ) 497.70p 7.24%
CLS Holdings (CLI) 1,855.00p 5.94%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 847.00p 4.96%
Hunting (HTG) 582.00p 4.39%
Evraz (EVR) 238.00p 4.34%
Bovis Homes Group (BVS) 877.50p 3.66%
Metro Bank (MTRO) 3,460.00p 3.56%
Fidessa Group (FDSA) 2,617.00p 3.23%
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 174.00p 3.20%
Amec Foster Wheeler (AMFW) 550.00p 3.19%

Fallers

Allied Minds (ALM) 199.20p -23.68%
IP Group (IPO) 143.50p -4.97%
JRP Group (JRP) 125.50p -3.39%
Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 892.50p -3.30%
Investec (INVP) 531.00p -2.93%
Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 3,073.00p -2.60%
Auto Trader Group (AUTO) 388.50p -2.02%
McCarthy & Stone (MCS) 181.50p -1.89%
Essentra (ESNT) 526.00p -1.68%
Dechra Pharmaceuticals (DPH) 1,652.00p -1.67%