Thomas Cook continued to worry investors although there didn't appear to be a new reason for it hitting the bottom spot. Earlier in the week Credit Suisse describe the terms of a new financing arrangement which Thomas Cook has put in place with its creditor banks as "positive", but cautioned that, "clarity on the group's financial outlook remains very uncertain," adding that there are still several sources of medium-term uncertainty.

Old Speckled Hen brewer and pub chain owner Greene King was also heading lower despite having unveiled another set of record results, with food sales once again driving growth.

Meanwhile, Yule Catto, the Essex headquartered polymer business, was rising after selling its pharmaceuticals division, Uquifa, to the Indian firm Vivimed Labs.

Yule will receive £35m for Urquifa, the company which makes active pharmaceutical ingredients for the wider pharma industry. It operates three manufacturing sites, two in Spain and one in Mexico, employing a total of 390 people.

Diploma was aided by a positive comment from Panmure, which said: "Diploma exhibits many of the positive characteristics that we look for in an investment. It has a proven operating model, scope to expand by product and geography, strong management and sound finances." The broker maintained its 400p price target.

Debenhams, Mothercare and KESA Electricals were in the red after Investec downgraded its ratings for both stocks. The broker cut Debenhams from buy to hold and downgraded both Mothercare and KESA from hold to sell.

FTSE 250 - Risers
Supergroup (SGP) 495.00p +7.47%
Diploma (DPLM) 356.80p +7.02%
RPC Group (RPC) 353.00p +4.97%
International Personal Finance (IPF) 205.60p +4.37%
Bellway (BWY) 756.00p +3.70%
Kenmare Resources (KMR) 36.80p +3.66%
Yule Catto & Co (YULC) 176.30p +3.64%
Bovis Homes Group (BVS) 490.20p +2.90%
JPMorgan Asian Inv Trust (JAI) 188.50p +2.17%
Domino's Pizza UK & IRL (DOM) 458.10p +2.16%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 16.51p -9.73%
Laird (LRD) 147.80p -5.80%
Northgate (NTG) 228.90p -5.33%
Kesa Electricals (KESA) 84.75p -4.72%
Exillon Energy (EXI) 274.20p -4.66%
Daejan Holdings (DJAN) 2,523.00p -4.61%
New World Resources A Shares (NWR) 449.00p -4.41%
Dignity (DTY) 809.50p -4.31%
Devro (DVO) 255.20p -4.24%
Euromoney Institutional Investor (ERM) 667.00p -4.17%

NR

Related share prices
Greene King (GNK) share price
Yule Catto & Co (YULC) share price
Diploma (DPLM) share price
Kesa Electricals (KESA) share price
Debenhams (DEB) share price
Thomas Cook Group (TCG) share price