FTSE 250 movers: Ladbrokes boosted by upgrade; Ashmore drops

London’s FTSE 250 was down 1% to 19,326.05 in afternoon trade as market participants digested news of Prime Minister Theresa May's plans for a snap general election on 8 June.

Ladbrokes Coral was the standout gainer after Davy upgraded its stance on the stock to ‘outperform’.

Housebuilder Bovis Homes racked up health gains after Jefferies upped the stock to ‘buy’ from ‘hold’ and hiked the price target to 1,041p from 771p.

The bank said it was removing the “uncertainty discount” from its price target now that there is a new chief executive officer in April.

Ashmore Group was in the red despite saying it returned to net inflows into its funds in the three months to the end of March as investors regained confidence in emerging markets.

Assets under management increased by $3.7bn during the third quarter, comprising positive investment performance of $2.3bn and net inflows of $1.4bn.

Mining stocks Ferrexpo, Vedanta, Evraz, Acacia and Kaz Minerals were all on the back foot as iron ore prices in China fell to their lowest level since November.

FTSE 250 - Risers

Ladbrokes Coral Group (LCL) 130.70p 1.71%
Howden Joinery Group (HWDN) 458.10p 1.33%
Softcat (SCT) 427.30p 1.23%
Fisher (James) & Sons (FSJ) 1,728.00p 1.17%
Bovis Homes Group (BVS) 922.00p 1.15%
Elementis (ELM) 295.30p 1.10%
Sophos Group (SOPH) 325.40p 0.87%
Berendsen (BRSN) 767.00p 0.85%
Dixons Carphone (DC.) 319.60p 0.76%
Unite Group (UTG) 654.50p 0.69%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Ferrexpo (FXPO) 142.50p -8.06%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 708.00p -6.90%
Evraz (EVR) 209.70p -5.37%
JRP Group (JRP) 122.20p -4.83%
Ashmore Group (ASHM) 347.70p -4.37%
Acacia Mining (ACA) 473.30p -4.07%
Kaz Minerals (KAZ) 437.10p -4.00%
Petra Diamonds Ltd.(DI) (PDL) 130.20p -3.84%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 275.20p -3.74%
CYBG (CYBG) 273.80p -3.11%