FTSE 250 movers: Inchcape tumbles; Renishaw gains on update

(Sharecast News) - London's FTSE 250 was down 0.6% at 24,289.07 in afternoon trade on Thursday. Inchcape tumbled after the automotive distributor cut its full-year operating margin guidance, citing underperformance in Australia. It now expects adjusted operating margin of around 5.5%, down from around 6% previously

Hochschild also slid as gold prices fell.

On the upside, Renishaw was among the top performers as the engineer said strong demand from semiconductor and defence customers had fuelled a surge in first-quarter sales.

Rathbones gained as it reported a rise in third-quarter funds under management and administration as its wealth management business generated net inflows the second consecutive quarter. FUMA jumped 7.2% year-on-year to £121.1bn, of which £112.9bn was in the wealth management arm. Rathbones said the increase was supported by positive market and investment performance.

RS Group was boosted by an upgrade to 'buy' from 'hold' at Berenberg, which hiked the price target to 900p from 650p ahead of the company's first-half results on 5 November. "Having previously reserved judgement on the company's turnaround amid a drawn-out earnings downgrade cycle, we think that the cycle is now moving in RS Group's favour," the bank said.

AJ Bell rose after it reported record platform assets under administration amid record growth in customer numbers. In an update for the year to September end, AJ Bell said platform AUA rose 22% to £126bn, with customer numbers up 24% to close at 796,000.

Total advised customers rose 6% to 194,000, while D2C customers increased 30% to 602,000.

FTSE 250 - Risers

HGCapital Trust (HGT) 378.50p 3.12% Harbour Energy (HBR) 301.60p 2.38% Renishaw (RSW) 5,475.00p 2.34% Rathbones Group (RAT) 1,628.00p 2.26% Halfords Group (HFD) 259.50p 2.17% RS Group (RS1) 778.50p 1.83% Hays (HAS) 58.45p 1.65% AJ Bell (AJB) 595.50p 1.53% Rightmove (RMV) 549.80p 1.44% B&M European Value Retail (BME) 276.00p 1.25%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Inchcape (INCH) 628.00p -8.08% Ceres Power Holdings (CWR) 271.20p -6.62% Hochschild Mining (HOC) 464.80p -5.02% RHI Magnesita N.V. (DI) (RHIM) 2,545.00p -4.86% Bloomsbury Publishing (BMY) 641.00p -4.61% Domino's Pizza Group (DOM) 219.80p -4.52% Pan African Resources (PAF) 112.80p -4.00% TBC Bank Group (TBCG) 4,828.00p -3.44% Morgan Advanced Materials (MGAM) 256.00p -3.40% Volex (VLX) 546.00p -3.36%