FTSE 250: Gold miners dulled, Intu surges

Hochschild Mining and Acacia were both down as gold prices dropped amid an improvement in investor sentiment, while Galliford Try followed close behind ahead of the release of the housebuilder's final results later this week.

Meanwhile, Wizz Air stumbled after Air France-KLM warned over weaker-than-expected bookings, sending airlines across Europe downwards.

The budget airline was also cut from 'outperform' to 'neutral' by analysts at Davy.

Up at the other end of the index, shares of shopping centre owner Intu Properties surged following a report over the weekend that private equity firm Orion Capital Managers is considering a buyout.

According to The Sunday Times, Orion - which already has a 9.2% stake in Intu - is in the early stages of seeking partners for a buyout of the company, whose rental income fell nearly 18% in the six months to June.

Analysts from Peel Hunt said: "Any buyer would need a strategy and the resources to deal with Intu’s £4.9bn of net debt and in particular the significant maturities in 2021-23 which total over £2.5bn. Trading at an 85% discount to NAV and with no dividends being paid at present we believe the shares remain highly speculative."

HG Capital climbed as it reported a 14% increase in net asset value per share in what the private equity investor called its strongest ever interim results.

Finally, McCarthy & Stone also made gains after analysts at HSBC raised the stock from 'hold' to 'buy' in their review of UK housebuilders, with analysts stating that the sector offers value due to its sustainable free cash flow and dividends through to 2023 in all scenarios for the housing market.

Market Movers

FTSE 250 (MCX) 19,669.56 -0.18%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Intu Properties (INTU) 40.32p 10.47%
HGCapital Trust (HGT) 237.00p 6.04%
Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings (AML) 565.60p 5.48%
Pets at Home Group (PETS) 241.60p 3.78%
Hastings Group Holdings (HSTG) 197.30p 3.52%
McCarthy & Stone (MCS) 141.50p 3.21%
Charter Court Financial Services Group (CCFS) 275.00p 3.19%
Provident Financial (PFG) 397.79p 3.11%
OneSavings Bank (OSB) 334.00p 2.96%
Premier Oil (PMO) 84.18p 2.51%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Hochschild Mining (HOC) 197.80p -5.63%
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 185.20p -4.98%
Contour Global (GLO) 175.40p -4.05%
Galliford Try (GFRD) 593.12p -3.71%
Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 1,943.00p -2.63%
Acacia Mining (ACA) 245.40p -2.62%
Wizz Air Holdings (WIZZ) 3,517.00p -2.58%
Assura (AGR) 70.00p -2.37%
Restaurant Group (RTN) 127.95p -2.25%
Syncona Limited NPV (SYNC) 247.00p -2.18%