LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - London's FTSE 250 was down by 0.29% at 19,115.38 in afternoon trade on Thursday with Dunelm leading the index lower.

The homeware retailer slumped after it said first-quarter like-for-like sales rose 6.4%, which was down a touch from 7.7% during the previous quarter.

AJ Bell analyst Russ Mould said: "The home furnishings chain defied retail gloom to post a series of positive trading updates earlier in 2019 but the stalling share price suggests the strong performance has already been priced in by the market."

Shares of Close Brothers were also lower as the stock went ex-dividend, while Dechra Pharmaceuticals dropping ahead of the release of a trading statement during the following week.

Up at the other end of the index, CYBG topped the risers and Kaz Minerals followed close behind on the back of higher copper and iron ore prices.

Airtel Africa continued to climb after having confirmed a new collaboration with MasterCard earlier in the week, with the duo set to create a virtual instant payment card that can be used by the telecoms provider's 100m mobile phone users.

Watches of Switzerland Group was in the green alongside other European luxury goods stocks after LVMH reported strong third quarter results.

Finally, construction firm Galliford Try edged higher after reporting it had won contracts worth around £340m with two water companies.

CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson said: "Earlier this year Galliford Try announced a £40m profits warning as a result of a restructuring of its business due to the overrun of a number of key projects which saw the shares fall sharply to a seven year low."

"Today's news could well help go some way to continuing the rebound we've seen in the share price since those April lows."

Market Movers

FTSE 250 (MCX) 19,115.38 -0.29%


FTSE 250 - Risers

CYBG (CYBG) 109.03p 4.43%
Kaz Minerals (KAZ) 406.80p 4.23%
Airtel Africa (AAF) 52.60p 3.24%
PureTech Health (PRTC) 237.00p 2.60%
Watches of Switzerland Group (WOSG) 280.00p 2.56%
Sophos Group (SOPH) 420.60p 2.54%
Cairn Energy (CNE) 184.80p 2.33%
Energean Oil & Gas (ENOG) 914.00p 2.24%
Finablr (FIN) 143.00p 2.00%
Galliford Try (GFRD) 622.00p 1.97%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Dunelm Group (DNLM) 721.00p -11.53%
Sirius Minerals (SXX) 3.48p -5.95%
AJ Bell (AJB) 348.00p -4.13%
Close Brothers Group (CBG) 1,252.00p -3.69%
Dechra Pharmaceuticals (DPH) 2,526.00p -3.44%
Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings (AML) 423.60p -3.13%
Renishaw (RSW) 3,424.00p -2.95%
Greggs (GRG) 1,745.00p -2.89%
Oxford Instruments (OXIG) 1,182.00p -2.80%
Mercantile Investment Trust (The) (MRC) 197.60p -2.66%

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