LONDON (ShareCast) - (ShareCast News) - London's FTSE 250 index was down 0.1% to 16,927.90 at 1445 BST, underperforming the broader market, which rose amid hopes of further central bank stimulus.
Interdealer broker ICAP slumped after Barclays downgraded the stock to 'equalweight' from 'overweight' and cut the price target to 500p from 600p pointing to a lack of earnings momentum. The bank noted that ICAP shares were a strong outperformer from January to May but have since come off and are now only up 1% year-to-date versus the FTSE All Share.

"Our analysis of ICAP's electronic volumes shows weakening trends in recent months contributing to this. Volume comps get tougher from September 2015 onwards and the European Investment banks are continuing to shrink their FICC divisions," it said.

Metrology and engineering group Renishaw was on the back for a second day running after saying on Thursday that it now expects full-year revenue to be below previous guidance, as it posted a drop in sales and profit for the first quarter.

In an update for the three months ended 30 September ahead of an AGM, the company said revenue for the first quarter of the current financial year was £98.2m, a touch lower than the £101.4m achieved last year.

TalkTalk was also in the red following a note by Nomura. The Japanese bank said: "We continue to believe that TalkTalk is running short of time to optimise its margins before structurally lower profitability takes hold.

"We do not believe a meaningful strategic premium is warranted at current valuations because we see little scope for an acquirer being willing to pay a premium to the current multiple for a business model with structural challenges ahead."

Nomura maintained its 'reduce' rating and 220p target price on the stock.

On the upside, Provident Financial was the standout gainer after its third-quarter results showed the non-standard lender's UK bank continued to surpass expectations, with other businesses solid. The UK arm of Vanquis Bank, which provides 'responsible' credit card lending to people who have been turned down by standard providers, drove year-on-year customer growth of 12% and maintained strong margins but will lose its divisional managing director to retirement next year.

Steel maker and mining company Evraz was a high riser after it posted a mostly positive set of operational results, with increases in steel and coal production in the third quarter. The company highlighted that crude steel output reached 3.5m tonnes, a 3.3% rise compared to the second quarter, driven by strong results from its Russia and Kazakhstan operations.



Risers

Provident Financial (PFG) 3,341.00p +5.13%

DCC (DCC) 5,200.00p +4.42%

Evraz (EVR) 97.60p +3.83%

Vedanta Resources (VED) 586.50p +3.81%

AO World (AO.) 161.50p +3.66%

Premier Oil (PMO) 89.20p +3.30%

Kaz Minerals (KAZ) 139.50p +3.03%

Intermediate Capital Group (ICP) 532.50p +2.50%

Enterprise Inns (ETI) 108.00p +2.37%

Brown (N.) Group (BWNG) 356.40p +2.18%



Fallers

IMI (IMI) 950.50p -4.71%

Bodycote (BOY) 527.50p -4.09%

Electrocomponents (ECM) 203.80p -3.96%

ICAP (IAP) 447.10p -3.35%

NMC Health (NMC) 787.00p -3.14%

Weir Group (WEIR) 1,203.00p -3.14%

Morgan Advanced Materials (MGAM) 289.30p -2.63%

TalkTalk Telecom Group (TALK) 299.60p -2.60%

Renishaw (RSW) 1,986.00p -2.46%

Ted Baker (TED) 2,847.00p -2.40%

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