FTSE 250 movers: Market to end the day in the red

The FTSE 250 was on track to finish Friday in the red after being bolstered on Thursday after the Fed rate hike. The market was down 72.46 points (0.42%) to 17,104.82 by mid-afternoon.

Entertainment One undid Thursday’s gains from its announcement it had extended its output agreement with DreamWorks Pictures through the creation of a new partnership. Along with some of the biggest names in the film industry including Steven Spielberg, the FTSE 250 company has joined a new film, television and digital content creation company - Amblin Partners.

The new partnership will see Entertainment One expand its film distribution network, handling the direct distribution of the partnership's films on a multi-territory output basis including the UK, Spain, Australia and New Zealand. As part of the deal, the company will also hold a small equity stake in Amblin Partners. The new partnership will create content under the Amblin, DreamWorks Pictures and Participant brands, while Amblin Television will also become a division of it.

It’s likely that a number the other big fallers of the day were hit by a bit of pre-Christmas profit taking as well as surprise measures from the Bank of Japan to boost its economy. The central bank announced new measures, which would supplement its easing programme, including a plan to purchase exchange-traded stock funds worth up to JPY300bn (£1.66bn).

Bodycote featured on the risers list after N+1 Singer upgraded the stock to ‘buy’ from ‘hold’ saying sentiment was likely to warm next year. The broker cut its estimates to reflect the more challenging trading environment which was confirmed in the group’s third quarter update. It downgraded its pre-tax profit and earnings per share forecasts by 10% for 2015 and 16% for 2016, saying this assumes a further weakening in the last months of this year and a 2.7% organic sales decline next year due to subdued end markets. However, Singer expects sentiment to become more positive in the year ahead.

Kaz Minerals also looked to end the day in the black, with metal prices all up halfway through the London Metal Exchange session. Copper prices saw a 2.2% rise, while lead prices rose 3%. However with commodities likely to still be under pressure prices could easily change.

FTSE 250 - Risers

Home Retail Group (HOME) 93.00p 3.68%
Dechra Pharmaceuticals (DPH) 1,032.00p 3.20%
Bodycote (BOY) 556.00p 3.06%
Petra Diamonds Ltd.(DI) (PDL) 71.20p 3.04%
BGEO Group (BGEO) 1,950.00p 2.69%
Aldermore Group (ALD) 222.80p 2.67%
Spirax-Sarco Engineering (SPX) 3,172.00p 2.59%
Restaurant Group (RTN) 672.00p 2.52%
Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group (JLT) 911.00p 2.36%
Genus (GNS) 1,513.00p 2.02%