FTSE 250 movers: Kaz Minerals and Ophir Energy help market surge

The FTSE 250 surged ahead on Tuesday as traders bet that the Paris attacks would not have a lasting effect on global markets.

Petra Diamonds Ltd.(DI)

34.50p

15:44 15/11/24

-3.63%

-1.30p

The index sat at 17,041.67 by mid-afternoon, up 197.29 points (1.17%).

Kaz Minerals was the market’s biggest gainer, after reached an agreement with its principal construction contractor, Non Ferrous China, to defer payment of $300m (£198m) relating to the company’s Aktogay project. Under the revised terms, the construction costs which were due to be paid in 2016 and 2017 will be settled in the first half of 2018. Kaz said there was no change to the overall amount payable to NFC or the project budget of $2.3bn. It added that Aktogay remains on track to commence production from oxide ore in 2015 and production from sulphide ore in 2017.

Ophir Energy shares were also up significantly after Credit Suisse upped its stance on the stock to ‘neutral’ from ‘underperform’ and lifted the price target to 100p from 90p following the capital markets day. It said the Fortuna floating liquefied natural gas project in Equatorial Guinea was the features of the CMD, with surprisingly encouraging progress made so far. “We partly de-risk the value of the project,” said CS, noting that Ophir seemed increasingly confident to sanction the project by mid-2016.

Despite challenging market conditions and a dip in revenue over the last four months, Bodycote said it is on track to meet full-year profit expectations, sending the share price surging. The company said that group revenue for the four months from July to October was down 7.5% at constant exchange rates compared to the same period in 2014. However it said it still expected headline operating profit for the financial year to be between £101m and £106m. “The quality of our portfolio and strength of our financial position place us well to take advantage of any opportunities that arise,” the trading update said.

On the other side of the ledger, Petra Diamonds dropped after Investec release a note about the mining sector in general and dropped its target price from 134p to 118p. “In light of the significantly increased commodity price volatility and resultant valuation uncertainty across the Resources space, we have increased the discount rate we apply in deriving our net present values (NPV’s) estimates, from 8% to 10%,” it said.

FTSE 250 - Risers

Kaz Minerals (KAZ) 86.55p 13.43%
Ophir Energy (OPHR) 96.40p 8.01%
Bodycote (BOY) 536.50p 7.71%
Aggreko (AGK) 991.50p 7.60%
Halma (HLMA) 809.50p 7.08%
Atkins (WS) (ATK) 1,454.00p 6.75%
Cable & Wireless Communications (CWC) 78.25p 6.10%
Bovis Homes Group (BVS) 993.00p 4.03%
Investec (INVP) 512.50p 3.81%
Spirax-Sarco Engineering (SPX) 3,005.00p 3.34%