LONDON (ShareCast) - Mid caps gained slightly on Friday as strong performances from construction, telecommunication and retail stocks offset a disappointing end to the Eurogroup meeting on Greece.
As of 1545 BST, the FTSE 250 was trading 0.12% higher at 17,700.

N Brown, the home shopping group which brands such as Simply Be and Jacamo, rose after saying its full-year guidance remains unchanged after an "encouraging start to the year".

Shares in COLT surged after Fidelity said it has made a 190p per share offer for the remaining in the stake in the company it does not already own. The board, however, reckons that the offer undervalues the company.

Poundland was boosted as Morgan Stanley upgraded the stock to 'equalweight' from 'underweight' to reflect recent share price weakness.

Card Factory topped the fallers after it said management planned to sell about 7.4m shares in the company, representing roughly 2.2% of the company's issued share capital.

PZ Cussons was in the red following a downgrade from Goldman Sachs to 'neutral' from 'buy'. the broker noted that the stock has outperformed the sector by 14% in the year to date.

"Performance in the UK has remained strong in the context of a challenging retail environment as the company diversifies its channels outside the retail big four," Goldman Sachs said.



Risers
COLT Group SA (COLT) 189.60p +21.00%
Poundland Group (PLND) 316.30p +5.40%
Evraz (EVR) 149.30p +4.04%
Pets at Home Group (PETS) 298.40p +3.22%
Entertainment One Limited (ETO) 346.20p +3.16%
Infinis Energy (INFI) 195.90p +2.78%
Brown (N.) Group (BWNG) 361.60p +2.55%
Virgin Money Holdings (UK) (VM.) 451.70p +2.54%
Hellermanntyton Group (HTY) 358.20p +2.34%
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 63.00p +2.19%

Fallers
Card Factory (CARD) 333.50p -7.23%
Fidelity China Special Situations (FCSS) 156.70p -3.33%
Ophir Energy (OPHR) 116.30p -3.08%
Greencore Group (GNC) 314.10p -2.73%
Imagination Technologies Group (IMG) 224.50p -2.65%
Jimmy Choo (CHOO) 151.60p -1.81%
NMC Health (NMC) 815.00p -1.75%
Booker Group (BOK) 171.20p -1.61%
Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 860.00p -1.60%
Premier Farnell (PFL) 176.50p -1.56%

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