A big mover on the FTSE 250 today was oil and gas group Afren which was trading a whopping 13% higher in the afternoon after announced a new oil discovery offshore south-east Nigeria.

The firm said that it encountered 549ft true vertical thickness of net oil pay and 41ft of net gas pay in "excellent quality reservoir sands", causing Credit Suisse to hike its target price on the stock by 14%.

Dixons Retail was next in line after the electricals retailer enjoyed a 23% jump in sales in the period from 4th to 14th January.

Travel group TUI Travel continued to make gains, a day after UBS added the firm to its 'M&A Watch List'. UBS said on Monday that it expects the stock to "receive support from a potential takeover by TUI AG", the firm's German parent company.

International Personal Finance, the door-step lender which issued a profits warning in December after getting caught on the hop by exchange rate movements, rose after announcing the appointment of a new Chief Executive.

The recycled packaging firm, DS Smith, jumped after launching an agreed bid for SCA Packaging, the second biggest packaging business in Europe.

Shares in pubs group Greene King were higher after it saw retail and food like-for-like (LFL) sales rise 8.2% and 11.1%, respectively, in the last seven weeks, helped by an exceptionally strong Christmas week's trading.

Computer translation firm SDL was up after saying it expects revenues and profits for the year ended 31 December 2011 to be slightly ahead of analyst expectations.

BC

FTSE 250 - Risers
Afren (AFR) 130.50p +13.48%
Dixons Retail (DXNS) 10.80p +9.20%
Supergroup (SGP) 640.00p +7.93%
Inchcape (INCH) 323.30p +5.52%
TUI Travel (TT.) 173.80p +5.40%
Misys (MSY) 279.50p +5.19%
Anglo Pacific Group (APF) 284.50p +4.67%
CSR (CSR) 216.60p +4.64%
Imagination Technologies Group (IMG) 560.50p +4.57%
Premier Farnell (PFL) 197.10p +4.56%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
Kenmare Resources (KMR) 46.91p -4.50%
TalkTalk Telecom Group (TALK) 127.60p -4.06%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 212.20p -4.03%
Allied Gold Mining (ALD) 156.00p -3.05%
Exillon Energy (EXI) 264.80p -2.14%
PZ Cussons (PZC) 314.60p -1.69%
Beazley (BEZ) 135.10p -1.53%
Rightmove (RMV) 1,324.00p -1.49%
Soco International (SIA) 288.80p -1.47%
SIG (SHI) 101.00p -1.46%

Related share prices
TUI Travel (TT.) share price
Greene King (GNK) share price
Smith (DS) (SMDS) share price
SDL (SDL) share price
Afren (AFR) share price
International Personal Finance (IPF) share price
Dixons Retail (DXNS) share price