LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - London's FTSE 250 was up 0.21% at 19,662.51 in afternoon trade on Monday, with Ted Baker pacing the gains.
The fashion brand rallied after a report over the weekend that founder Ray Kelvin is considering plans to back a private-equity buyout of the company, four months after he quit following allegations of sexual harassment.

Embattled high street lender Metro Bank was trading higher as it confirmed it was in talks to sell a mortgage portfolio. Media reports over the weekend said Metro was in talks on a £500m deal to‎ offload a mortgage portfolio back to a US hedge fund Cerberus Capital Management, from which it has bought more than £1bn of assets in recent years.

Neil Wilson, chief market analyst at Markets.com, said: "The move would clearly deliver a welcome capital injection at an important moment for the bank. Coupled with the recent equity raising this should allow the bank to move back into a surer position and look at growth plans again, which have been on hold since the loan fiasco. Half year results are due Wednesday. Pressure on Vernon Hill to depart is mounting."

Meanwhile, PZ Cussons also climbed ahead of the release of its final results on Tuesday.

PPHE Hotel Group led the fallers at the other end of the index, while Woodford Patient Capital dipped as the Mail on Sunday said the fund's future is bleak because of its stakes in a number of unquoted or thinly traded holdings whose value appears highly questionable.



FTSE 250 - Risers

Ted Baker (TED) 980.50p 17.00%
Metro Bank (MTRO) 502.00p 6.31%
PZ Cussons (PZC) 228.00p 5.07%
Rank Group (RNK) 161.80p 3.72%
Hunting (HTG) 546.50p 3.60%
Oxford Instruments (OXIG) 1,384.00p 3.44%
St. Modwen Properties (SMP) 428.00p 3.26%
Future (FUTR) 1,038.63p 3.24%
Dunelm Group (DNLM) 935.50p 3.20%
Amigo Holdings (AMGO) 165.60p 3.11%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

PPHE Hotel Group Ltd (PPH) 1,850.00p -2.63%
Funding Circle Holdings (FCH) 118.20p -2.31%
Hays (HAS) 147.60p -2.25%
Greene King (GNK) 647.80p -2.12%
Equiniti Group (EQN) 215.80p -1.91%
Woodford Patient Capital Trust (WPCT) 53.00p -1.86%
Derwent London (DLN) 3,006.00p -1.83%
Pagegroup (PAGE) 442.00p -1.73%
Hammerson (HMSO) 268.10p -1.72%
JPMorgan Indian Investment Trust (JII) 754.00p -1.69%

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