FTSE 250 movers: Gold miners lifted as mid-caps trip on China's currency fiddling

LONDON (ShareCast) - (ShareCast News) - The FTSE 250 tumbled in early trading and by the close of the session was down 1.3% at 17,438.09 points. There were a few stocks in positive territory, however, with a three-week haven-inspired high in gold prices helping gold-miners Centamin (Toronto: CEE.TO - news) and Acacia Mining (LSE: ABG.L - news) top the second-line index.

After initial falls, other metals futures gained later in the session, with miners Vedanta and Kaz Minerals (LSE: KAZ.L - news) rebounding.

After scrapping its interim dividend due to wider first-half losses, Balfour Beatty (Other OTC: BAFBF - news) shares dipped initially but then spiked as investors saw the effects of management actions coming through. "The stock remains a special situation as a recovery stock, but we believe that these first steps are positive ones and we retain our underlying estimates for this year," said broker Numis.

Zoopla zoomed higher after its recent one-month plateau, fueled by a trading statement that said the property webstie has started winning back estate agents from its rivals and that management was confident of delivering full-year results in line with expectations.

Other risers included Tullow Oil (LSE: TLW.L - news) as gas exports from its Jubilee field in Ghana resumed following the completion of works on a gas compressor and oil production returned to previous rates. The oil and gas exploration group also said that the governments of Uganda and Kenya have agreed on a route for the regional crude oil export pipeline.

Fallers included support services and construction group Interserve , in spite of its 19% rise in first-half pre-tax profit and said it remained confident of further growth for the remainder of this year, albeit with the higher minimum wage likely to hit margins.

ICAP (Amsterdam: IA6.AS - news) , hit by a Morgan Stanley (Xetra: 885836 - news) downgrade to 'underweight' from 'equalweight'. MS said its analysis suggested challenges for inter-dealer brokers to sustain mid-teens earnings per share growth and revealed around 5 to 10% downside risks to consensus estimates.

Just Retirement (LSE: JRG.L - news) continued where it left off on Tuesday, giving up all its gains from July as the market mulled its proposed merger with rival Partnership Assurance .

FTSE 250 - Risers Centamin (DI (KSE: 003160.KS - news) ) (CEY) 59.90p +9.61% Vedanta Resources (Other OTC: VDNRF - news) (VED) 477.80p +5.24% Acacia Mining (ACA) 247.00p +4.88% Balfour Beatty (BBY) 263.00p +4.49% Zoopla Property Group (WI) (ZPLA) 262.90p +3.38% Aggreko (EUREX: AGKF.EX - news) (AGK) 1,093.00p +3.02% Kaz Minerals (KAZ) 156.20p +2.83% Allied Minds (Other OTC: ALLWF - news) (ALM) 469.00p +1.74% Amec Foster Wheeler (Other OTC: AMCBF - news) (AMFW) 824.50p +1.17% Tullow Oil (TLW) 222.20p +1.09% FTSE 250 - Fallers Just Retirement Group (JRG) 178.60p -4.90% NMC Health (LSE: NMC.L - news) (NMC (Other OTC: NMCX - news) ) 835.00p -4.79% Man Group (LSE: EMG.L - news) (EMG) 158.30p -4.75% Interserve (IRV) 596.00p -4.72% Fidelity China Special Situations (FCSS) 131.60p -4.36% ICAP (IAP) 480.10p -4.27% Michael Page International (Other OTC: MPGPY - news) (MPI (Other OTC: MNIGF - news) ) 527.50p -4.26% Inchcape (INCH) 773.50p -4.03% Aldermore Group (LSE: ALD.L - news) (ALD) 286.80p -3.98% Investec (INVP) 563.00p -3.92%