Gold miner African Barrick Gold led the risers on the second-tier index after hiking its previous resource estimate fourfold for the Tusker deposit at the Nyanzaga Project in Tanzania.

Shares of Internet and catalogue home shopping specialist N. Brown were also wanted after UBS upgraded its rating on the stock from neutral to buy.

EasyJet rose after AlphaValue lifted its target price on the stock from 463.9p to 466.6p while UBS raised uits target from 450p to 490p.

Housebuilding and construction firm Galliford Try was the biggest faller in a Construction and Materials sector that was down 2% in mid-afternoon trading.

FTSE 250 - Risers
African Barrick Gold (ABG) 520.50p +6.33%
Misys (MSY) 318.50p +4.32%
Brewin Dolphin Holdings (BRW) 152.80p +3.17%
Stobart Group Ltd. (STOB) 125.40p +2.45%
Dixons Retail (DXNS) 15.10p +1.96%
Telecom Plus (TEP) 667.00p +1.91%
Aberdeen Asset Management (ADN) 242.30p +1.85%
easyJet (EZJ) 453.30p +1.75%
Brown (N.) Group (BWNG) 235.40p +1.73%
Chemring Group (CHG) 385.20p +1.69%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
Galliford Try (GFRD) 455.50p -4.51%
Cobham (COB) 182.00p -3.75%
Bumi (BUMI) 843.50p -3.60%
Senior (SNR) 181.20p -3.57%
JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 701.50p -3.11%
Premier Oil (PMO) 421.30p -2.90%
DS Smith (SMDS) 235.40p -2.61%
Afren (AFR) 125.30p -2.57%
Mondi (MNDI) 519.50p -2.53%
Spirent Communications (SPT) 119.90p -2.20%

NR

Related share prices
Brown (N.) Group (BWNG) share price
Galliford Try (GFRD) share price
easyJet (EZJ) share price
African Barrick Gold (ABG) share price