FTSE 250 movers: Hastings jumps on upgrade, but Berendsen slumps
London's FTSE 250 was down 0.2% to 19,118.29 in afternoon trade as investors digested news that UK inflation overshot the Bank of England's 2% target in February for the first time in more than three years.
Insurer Hastings Group was the standout gainer after Credit Suisse initiated coverage of the stock at 'outperform' with a 290p price target.
The bank said it expects to see top-line driven operating earnings improvement, while debt and capex reductions should underpin growing returns to shareholders.
Shares in Tullow Oil gushed higher as Deutsche Bank upped its stance on the stock to 'buy' from 'hold' and lifted the price target to 330p from 270p, saying the current price offers an attractive entry point.
DB noted that Tullow has underperformed its peers by around 20% year-to-date.
"If you've been sitting on the fence, we think the current share price offers an attractive entry level to invest in a material and recapitalised bellwether of the European exploration & production sector.
Medical device maker Vectura was on the front after it said that revenue grew last year on the back of recently launched products, but its loss before tax widened due to one-off charges from its merger with Skyepharma.
For the nine-months ended 31 December, revenue increased 76% to £126.5m, compared to the same period the previous year, following the momentum of seven recently launched inhale products with in-market net sales rising 81% to $2bn.
Bellway was higher after it hoisted its interim dividend 10% as the housebuilder enjoyed continued strong demand in the first half and maintained its targets for the full year.
Revenue of £1.15bn for the six months to the end of January was a 5.9% improvement on the same period a year ago as the company completed 4,462 homes at an average selling price of £256,000.
On the downside, shares in commercial laundry company Berendsen were under pressure after Barclays cut the stock to 'underweight' from 'equalweight' and slashed the target price to 700p from 911p.
Ferrexpo was also weaker ahead of its 2016 preliminary results on Wednesday.
Risers
Hastings Group Holdings (HSTG) 265.00p 6.04%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 279.00p 3.76%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 204.00p 3.29%
Hunting (HTG) 550.00p 2.90%
Vectura Group (VEC) 161.80p 2.80%
CLS Holdings (CLI) 1,742.00p 2.29%
Aberdeen Asset Management (ADN) 272.50p 1.95%
Travis Perkins (TPK) 1,513.00p 1.82%
Cobham (COB) 132.50p 1.61%
Bellway (BWY) 2,873.00p 1.59%
Fallers
Berendsen (BRSN) 806.00p -6.06%
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 167.00p -4.19%
AO World (AO.) 143.30p -2.85%
Allied Minds (ALM) 370.80p -2.42%
Serco Group (SRP) 113.70p -2.07%
Kaz Minerals (KAZ) 509.50p -2.02%
Domino's Pizza Group (DOM) 331.50p -2.01%
Nostrum Oil & Gas (NOG) 434.00p -1.94%
Hill & Smith Holdings (HILS) 1,298.00p -1.82%
Evraz (EVR) 227.30p -1.81%