LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - London's FTSE 250 was up 0.69% at 19,425.11 in afternoon trading on Friday, with Amigo Holdings leading the index higher.

The guarantor lender topped the risers after analysts at Shore Capital upgraded their rating of the stock from 'sell' to 'hold' despite the company's warning that loan book growth for the year would be flat.

"The problem stems from a combination of strong historical growth combined with underinvestment in systems, along with a more challenging regulatory and economic backdrop. Consequently, guidance has been slashed as the new management team looks to get to grips with the issues, resulting in significant downgrades to our forecasts. Although we remain fundamentally cautious on the stock, a recent sharp drop in the shares sees us upgrade back to 'hold'," said the analysts.

Builders merchant Grafton also racked up healthy gains after it reported that half year pre-tax profits rose 5% to £88.2m, exiting the Belgian market and that it had struck a deal with an unnamed buyer. Revenue rose 2% to £1.4bn despite Brexit uncertainty in the UK as Ireland and the Netherlands both recorded strong results.

Down at the other end of the index, precious metals miners Hochschild, Centamin, Acacia and Polymetal were all lower as gold prices slipped back.

Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at Oanda, said: "Gold has pulled back from its highs once again as risk appetite picked up on Thursday. Once again, the rally is showing some signs of weakness, having failed to top its previous high and displaying softer momentum. This may change, it's hard to find anyone that's not bullish gold longer term but correction red flags are popping up here and there."

Finally, Tullow Oil kept its place among the top fallers a day after it confirmed that its farm-down agreement with Total and China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC) had ended after the company failed to agree tax details with the Government of Uganda.

Market Movers

FTSE 250 (MCX) 19,425.11 0.69%


FTSE 250 - Risers

Amigo Holdings (AMGO) 77.88p 10.16%
Grafton Group Units (GFTU) 749.50p 9.82%
Intu Properties (INTU) 40.49p 7.17%
Wood Group (John) (WG.) 382.50p 6.19%
Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 418.90p 4.26%
Softcat (SCT) 1,045.00p 3.26%
Hammerson (HMSO) 228.60p 3.02%
Serco Group (SRP) 146.80p 3.02%
Pennon Group (PNN) 757.72p 3.01%
Kainos Group (KNOS) 497.00p 2.90%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Hochschild Mining (HOC) 218.14p -3.90%
Cineworld Group (CINE) 218.23p -2.62%
Stagecoach Group (SGC) 122.30p -2.55%
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 143.45p -1.95%
Acacia Mining (ACA) 261.20p -1.80%
Telecom Plus (TEP) 1,158.00p -1.70%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 202.40p -1.65%
Rank Group (RNK) 167.00p -1.53%
Barr (A.G.) (BAG) 586.00p -1.51%
Polymetal International (POLY) 1,168.50p -1.06%

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