FTSE 250 movers: Centamin, St James's Place and Chemring lead the rise

The FTSE 250 was making decent gains on Thursday afternoon on the back of well-received updates from the likes of Centamin, St James's Place and Chemring.

Egypt-focused gold miner Centamin jumped 4.5% after reporting a strong third-quarter performance, as operational improvements at the flagship Sukari mine lifted production while gold sales were bolstered by record prices. Output rose 30% while gold sales surged 44%.

St James’s Place reported a jump in funds under management, boosted by an improving macroeconomic environment. The London-listed wealth manager said FUM reached a record £184.4bn in the three quarters to September end, up from £158.6bn a year previously.

Meanwhile, Chemring reported a strong trading performance for the year-to-date, with its full-year outlook remaining in line with analyst expectations despite foreign exchange headwinds.

Also higher was luxury brand Burberry, perhaps lifted by some bargain-hunting with the stock trading close to its lowest since 2010, having fallen by more than 60% so far this year.

Industrial and electrical products distributor RS Group led the fallers, dropping more than 4% as the stock extends recent falls. Since settling at a 52-week high of 840p on 27 September, the share price has tumbled 14%.

Capital markets business Plus500 was lower after Canaccord Genuity downgraded the stock from 'speculative buy' to 'hold' ahead of the group's third-quarter trading update on 28 October.

Rathbones Group was out of favour after reporting that funds under management and administration were £108.8bn as at 30 September, marginally down from £108.9bn at the end of June.

Meanwhile, building products manufacturer Ibstock gained after delivering "a solid performance" in the third quarter, with adjusted underlying earnings broadly in line with internal expectations.

FTSE 250 - Risers

Hochschild Mining (HOC) 231.00p 5.96%
Wood Group (John) (WG.) 134.90p 5.80%
Burberry Group (BRBY) 689.80p 5.38%
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 164.40p 4.51%
Chemring Group (CHG) 382.50p 4.51%
Indivior (INDV) 649.00p 4.26%
Kier Group (KIE) 146.20p 3.69%
St James's Place (STJ) 842.00p 3.12%
Petershill Partners (PHLL) 223.50p 3.00%
Paragon Banking Group (PAG) 768.50p 2.95%