FTSE 250 movers: Vectura gains but CMC Markets slumps

London’s FTSE 250 index was up 0.3% to 18,051.69 in afternoon trade.

Vectura surged after lifting its expectations for 2016 as it said it is making progress with the June Skyepharma acquisition.

The company raised revenue expectations for the nine month period ended 31 December, due to strong growth from its partnered marketed respiratory products.

Weir Group was on the front foot after as Morgan Stanley upgraded the stock to ‘overweight’ from ‘equalweight’, saying the mining cycle was stabilising and that miners' ability to spend was set to improve, with capital expenditures on replacement described as a "sweet spot".

Combined with forecasts for an inflection in the rig count in 2017 and 2018 the broker's estimates for earnings per share at Weir are now 11% and 33% ahead of consensus, respectively.

CMC Markets tumbled after saying first-half net operating income would be lower than last year, blaming a lower value of client trades on low levels of market volatility.

On the upside, the provider of spread-betting, CFDs and forex trading, which floated in February and joined the FTSE 250 in June, said new client numbers were up 19% with active clients growing 9% in the five month period to 31 August.

IG Group fell in tandem with CMC Markets.

Sports Direct tanked as it said it expects earnings to fall over 20% this year, but added that, contrary to much media speculation, founder Mike Ashley was not planning to take the company private any time soon.

In a move likely to further inflame investor views of management's mixed corporate governance record, chairman Keith Hellawell was asked to continue in his role after he offered to step down over the weekend, with the FTSE 250 retailer urging the ex-policeman to remain "in order to assist with making further improvements".

Just Eat was under pressure as Amazon launched a free one-hour restaurant delivery service to its Prime subscribers in London.

FTSE 250 - Risers

Vectura Group (VEC) 146.80p 15.68%
OneSavings Bank (OSB) 273.40p 5.03%
Weir Group (WEIR) 1,608.00p 4.15%
Metro Bank (MTRO) 2,575.00p 3.62%
Aldermore Group (ALD) 170.60p 3.27%
Paragon Group Of Companies (PAG) 322.70p 3.26%
Evraz (EVR) 137.30p 3.23%
CLS Holdings (CLI) 1,589.00p 3.11%
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 161.60p 3.06%
Drax Group (DRX) 316.70p 3.06%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

CMC Markets (CMCX) 245.00p -11.58%
IG Group Holdings (IGG) 895.00p -5.29%
Just Eat (JE.) 540.50p -5.09%
Sports Direct International (SPD) 331.80p -5.09%
Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 71.85p -3.94%
Redrow (RDW) 404.40p -3.37%
Synthomer (SYNT) 356.50p -3.36%
Bellway (BWY) 2,323.00p -2.88%
Ascential (ASCL) 258.00p -2.86%
Allied Minds (ALM) 327.20p -2.44%