LONDON (ShareCast) - Telecom firm Spirent Communications was rising on Thursday after being given a hold consensus recommendation by the 12 ratings firms currently covering the company. Liberum Capital upgraded the group to a 'buy' rating. The broker claimed: "Spirent is cheaper than its peers on all EV metrics and is a potential take-out target with leading IP".
Online supermarket Ocado Group also increased after announcing 20.4% growth in full-year gross sales. Chief executive officer Tim Steiner said: "We remain committed to constantly improving the quality of the proposition to customers, which we believe will support continued growth, and although we anticipate the retail environment to remain challenging, we expect to continue growing sales slightly ahead of the online grocery market."

Meanwhile, oil and gas companies were dropping as oil prices continue their decline. EnQuest, Soco International, Ophir Energy and Premier Oil, were all sliding early in the day. EnQest was downgraded to a sell rating by analysts at Danske in a research note issues to investors on Thursday.

Gold, minerals and metal mining companies were also falling on Thursday. Centamin, Hochschild Mining, Evraz and Lonmin were ranked on the fallers list early in the day alongside declining gold futures.

FTSE 250 - Risers
Spirent Communications (SPT) 70.20p +6.12%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 348.00p +4.19%
Just Retirement Group (JRG) 144.70p +4.10%
Tullett Prebon (TLPR) 255.50p +3.23%
Kier Group (KIE) 1,469.00p +3.23%
Laird (LRD) 312.00p +2.90%
COLT Group SA (COLT) 136.70p +2.01%
Micro Focus International (MCRO) 1,072.00p +2.00%
Entertainment One Limited (ETO) 305.50p +1.80%
AO World (AO.) 285.80p +1.71%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
EnQuest (ENQ) 35.83p -4.73%
Soco International (SIA) 243.60p -4.28%
Bank of Georgia Holdings (BGEO) 1,971.00p -4.27%
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 49.18p -4.04%
Ophir Energy (OPHR) 115.50p -3.99%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 84.60p -3.86%
Evraz (EVR) 134.30p -3.80%
Lonmin (LMI) 157.30p -3.56%
Premier Oil (PMO) 167.20p -3.41%
Brown (N.) Group (BWNG) 338.40p -3.37%

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