London’s FTSE 250 was flat at 21,383.67 in afternoon trade on Wednesday.
Wealth manager Quilter was the top riser after better-than-expected full-year results, while Royal Mail rallied as it increased its guidance for annual profit after letter volumes were higher than expected.
Broadcaster ITV was in the red a day after its full-year results. Markets.com analyst Neil Wilson speculated that it could be to do with the departure of outspoken Good Morning Britain host Piers Morgan.
“Are they down because of this event or just amid his departure? Investors may be a little worried about the loss of ratings for GMB – it wasn’t exactly doing that well before he joined and its primetime slot will have repercussions for ads,” he said.
“Love or loathe, Morgan boosted ratings. It could also be that investors are worried about an investigation over comments made by Morgan on air.”
Ultra Electronics was also weaker despite an upgrade to ‘overweight’ from ‘neutral’ at JPMorgan.
Virgin Money slumped as Shore Capital cut its rating on the stock to ‘hold’ from ‘buy’ saying the shares have risen “too far, too soon”.
FTSE 250 – Risers
Quilter (QLT) 161.05p 9.89%
Allianz Technology Trust (ATT) 2,780.00p 6.31%
Baillie Gifford US Growth Trust (USA) 326.00p 5.16%
Just Eat Takeaway.Com N.V. (CDI) (JET) 7,184.00p 4.97%
Edinburgh Worldwide Inv Trust (EWI) 344.50p 4.24%
Ninety One (N91) 228.80p 3.25%
CMC Markets (CMCX) 382.50p 3.24%
Royal Mail (RMG) 488.70p 3.23%
Rank Group (RNK) 180.40p 2.73%
Liontrust Asset Management (LIO) 1,345.00p 2.67%
FTSE 250 – Fallers
Cairn Energy (CNE) 178.30p -7.52%
Babcock International Group (BAB) 239.70p -5.63%
ITV (ITV) 120.80p -4.39%
Ultra Electronics Holdings (ULE) 2,018.00p -4.36%
Euromoney Institutional Investor (ERM) 976.00p -4.13%
Virgin Money UK (VMUK) 192.65p -3.43%
Morgan Advanced Materials (MGAM) 306.50p -3.31%
Cineworld Group (CINE) 101.15p -3.30%
Just Group (JUST) 95.45p -3.10%
Pagegroup (PAGE) 473.00p -2.67%
