FTSE 250 movers: Kier crumbles, gold miners glimmer

London's FTSE 250 was 0.31% lower at 19,112.00 in afternoon trading on Friday, with the index led lower by shares in Kier Group.

International Distribution Services

338.80p

16:34 08/11/24

0.12%

0.40p

TalkTalk Telecom Group

96.90p

16:34 11/03/21

0.00%

0.00p

The construction, services and property group tumbled following a report that the company is preparing to sell its housebuilding unit amid increasing evidence of financial pressure on the group.

According to The Times, Kier has sounded out advisers about the potential to sell the division, which is understood to be valued at between £100m and £150m.

TalkTalk dropped after customers all across the UK reported difficulties accessing the telecoms outfit's email services, with the company stating that engineers are working to restore services.

Exhibitions and information company Ascential was also in the red, despite saying that trading was in line with full-year expectations with its product design, marketing and sales divisions all reporting organic first half revenue growth.

At the other end of the spectrum, precious metals miners Centamin and Hochschild were higher after gold prices continued to rise on growing geopolitical tensions, while Royal Mail gained after being elevated from 'sell' to 'hold' by analysts at Socgen.

Jupiter Fund Management was also higher, after Berenberg analysts raised the stock's price target from 360p to 390p, arguing that the fund management group's flows have stabilised over the past few weeks.

"Incorporating this, a £6m performance fee on the group’s European investment trust and recent market moves leads to a small increase in our 2019 earnings forecasts (4.1%, taking us 6.8% above consensus). Jupiter’s structural challenges – dependence on a small number of fund strategies and a narrow distribution footprint – will take longer to address of course," said analysts.

Market Movers

FTSE 250 (MCX) 19,112.00 -0.31%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Vivo Energy (VVO) 137.80p 7.66%
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 108.40p 4.18%
Bakkavor Group (BAKK) 130.40p 3.66%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 180.40p 2.97%
Stobart Group Ltd. (STOB) 108.20p 2.66%
Royal Mail (RMG) 200.30p 2.43%
Hilton Food Group (HFG) 972.00p 2.32%
Jupiter Fund Management (JUP) 382.40p 1.97%
CLS Holdings (CLI) 217.00p 1.88%
Rank Group (RNK) 156.20p 1.83%